Tropical cyclone Freddy, which has been bouncing around the Mozambican channel between Mozambique and Madagascar since late last month, is officially the longest-lived tropical cyclone in recorded history.

In addition, Freddy has the highest accumulated cyclone energy of any tropical cyclone, surpassing Hurricane Ioke’s record of 85.

Freddy made landfall to the eastern seaport of Quelimane in Mozambique at around 22:00 last night, bringing heavy rains and strong winds to communities who had been preparing for this natural disaster since Friday.

Preparations included electricity being switched off to the affected area.

Heavy rains and strong winds began battering the region yesterday morning, and authorities are expecting up to 400mm of rain – more than double the average monthly rainfall – over the next few days.

Since first making landfall on Madagascar last month, Freddy is thought to have been responsible for 27 deaths – 10 in Mozambique and 17 in Madagascar.

During Freddy’s first visit to Mozambique, the cyclone destroyed, damaged or flooded more than 28 000 homes, affecting more than 160 000 people.

Cyclone Freddy’s trajectory

Freddy first developed as a disturbance embedded within the monsoon trough on February 4. While in the Australian region cyclone basin, the storm quickly intensified and became a category 4 severe tropical cyclone, before it moved into the south-west Indian Ocean basin, where it intensified further.

The Joint Typhoon Warning Centre estimated one-minute sustained winds of 270 km/h at Freddy’s peak strength.

On February 19, Météo-France (MFR) upgraded it to a very intense tropical cyclone, estimated 10-minute winds of 220 km/h. Freddy made its first landfall near Mananjary, Madagascar. The storm rapidly weakened overland but re-strengthened in the Mozambique channel.

Shortly afterward, Freddy made second landfall just south of Vilankulos, Mozambique, before rapidly weakening.

Unexpectedly, the system managed to survive its visit in Mozambique and emerged back over the channel on March 1. Soon after, Freddy was reclassified as a tropical cyclone status by the MFR. Over the course of 10 days, Freddy rapidly intensified on two occasions, eventually slowing to a semi-stationary movement near Quelimane, Mozambique.

Sources: Wikipedia; Severe Weather and Information Centre SA