Cyclone Freddy slammed into Madagascar late Tuesday with intense bands of rain and powerful winds as it moved over land for the first time in its lengthy lifespan.
Multiple deaths have been attributed to the storm in Madagascar, and as recovery operations get underway, AccuWeather meteorologists say the storm's rare, long-lived journey may be far from over.
Freddy churned over the Indian Ocean for more than two weeks before it barreled into Madagascar. The cyclone's origins date back to Feb. 6 when it formed off the southern coast of Indonesia. Freddy's first direct encounter with land occurred 15 days later near Mananjary, a city on Madagascar's eastern coastline, around 7:30 p.m. local time Tuesday.
Météo France La Réunion, the government agency responsible for tracking storms in this part of the world, estimated Freddy's maximum sustained winds to be equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale (96-110 mph) at the time of landfall.
| This satellite loop shows Freddy just prior to landfall in Madagascar on Tuesday. Image courtesy of AccuWeather |
"This makes Freddy the strongest storm to strike Madagascar since Cyclone Batsirai ripped through the region in early February 2022," AccuWeather lead international forecaster Jason Nicholls said.
No other tropical cyclones observed in this part of the world have taken such a path across the Indian Ocean in the past two decades. Freddy closely mirrored the track of Cyclone Leone, also known as Eline, in 2000, which holds the record for the longest-lived cyclone in the Indian Ocean, traveling nearly 7,000 miles over 29 days. Only two other cyclones in history, Hudah in 2000 and Litanne in 1994, survived the lengthy east-to-west route over the Indian Ocean.
Freddy passed near Mauritius and Réunion (the Mascarene Islands), which lie to the east of Madagascar, Monday night into Tuesday morning, local time. Rainfall amounts neared 2 inches in the town of Vacoas, Mauritius, as wind gusts approached 60 mph. However, the islands were spared the worst of the cyclone's impacts as the storm remained to the north of the islands, providing a glancing blow rather than a direct strike.
AccuWeather meteorologists were warning more than a week in advance that Madagascar was unlikely to be spared from a direct blow from Freddy.
At least four deaths have been attributed to the cyclone, including one man who drowned amid rising seas prior to landfall.
The city of Mananjary, home to around 25,000 people and near where Freddy moved ashore, received nearly 5 inches of rain, with sustained winds of 92 mph at landfall, according to Nicholls. This part of the country is still vulnerable following the strike by powerful Batsirai just one year ago.
Even more recently, Tropical Cyclone Cheneso unleashed days of flooding rain and damaging winds to western and northern portions of the island nation one month ago. Many of these same areas were being affected by Freddy at midweek before the center of the storm moved over the Mozambique Channel.
| Freddy is projected to strike parts of eastern Africa later this week. Image courtesy of AccuWeather |
After the cyclone stayed away from any landmass for more than two weeks, AccuWeather meteorologists say it can make a second landfall in a matter of days -- this time over southern Africa.
Freddy is expected to regain some wind intensity as it travels over the Mozambique Channel through Thursday. The cyclone's second landfall is likely to occur early Friday near Inhassoro and Vilankulos in Mozambique, with heavy rainfall and locally damaging winds likely in central and southern portions of the country. This would mark nearly three weeks since the storm's initial formation.
Mozambique and Madagascar may not be in the clear even after Freddy's circulation begins to unravel over land. Flooding downpours are likely to continue across southeastern Africa into early next week as leftover energy from Freddy hangs around in the upper part of the atmosphere.
"It is possible that the ghost of Freddy returns to the Mozambique Channel early next week and strengthens some before impacting southern Madagascar from the west later next week," Nicholls said.