Cyclone Freddy halts trade at key Mozambique Port of Beira; As its flooding consequences could impact 1.75m people

Mozambique’s Port of Beira which Malawi also relies on

* It has also seen flooding parts of South Africa and Zimbabwe

* Meteo France predicts Cyclone Freddy to strike Mozambique’s coast near Vilankulo, 150 miles south of Beira

* Weather forecasters say the landfall earlier in the morning was less intense severe tropical storm

By Duncan Mlanjira

A report on Thursday by www.bloomberg.com indicates that Mozambique’s second-busiest port halted operations to prepare for the arrival of severe tropical storm Freddy — that is forecast to make landfall today (Friday, February 24) as a tropical cyclone.

The report says port of Beira, located in the center of the country, paused operations from Thursday morning and was expected to resume at 19:00hrs local time there today.

It quotes Meteo France as predicting that Cyclone Freddy would strike Mozambique’s coast near Vilankulo, the tourist hotspot that’s about 150 miles south of Beira.

“The weather forecaster had previously said the system would make landfall earlier in the morning as a less intense severe tropical storm,” said the report. “Freddy will strike land close Sasol Ltd’s Pande and Temane natural gas operations, from where the fuel is piped to South Africa. The company is taking all necessary precautions to ensure the safety of its people and operations, it said in a response to emailed questions.”

The report further said Mozambique canceled some flights, while Zimbabwe closed schools on Friday in southern and eastern parts of the country that are expected to be most affected by Cyclone Freddy.

“Flooding in central and southern Mozambique could affect as many as 1.75 million people, according to the government.”

Meanwhile, the Department of Climate Change & Meteorological Services is also closely monitoring the progress of Cyclone Freddy, and still maintains that at its current position, it poses no threat to Malawi weather.

Malawi is also monitoring the progress of severe tropical storm Enala, another cyclone that developed in the Indian Ocean, but it is far away from the African continent and is currently a moderate tropical storm.

The Department thus assures the public of its continuation of the movement and strength of both Cyclone Freddy and Enala for any on Malawi weather will be communicated to the nation accordingly.

Bloomberg quotes the World Meteorological Organization as saying sin a statement on Thursday: “Months’ worth of rainfall may fall in the space of a few days, causing widespread flooding in an area which already has saturated soils and high river-basin levels from unusually heavy seasonal rains. The compound impact could be significant.”

Cyclone Freddy developed off the coast of northwest Australia before traversing the southern Indian Ocean and making landfall on the east coast of Madagascar, where it killed at least seven people, Bloomberg further reports.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, the last time a cyclone made such a journey was 2000 — also a La Nina year — when Eline and Hudah caused disastrous flooding in Mozambique.

And it is expected that Freddy “may cause ‘catastrophic’ flooding in parts of northeastern South Africa, also already hit by heavy rains this month, according the nation’s weather service”. 

“While it probably won’t impact areas the nation relies on for coal mining and power generation, previous storms have affected the transmission lines that South Africa uses to import electricity from the Cahora Bassa hydropower dam in Mozambique.”