by Ayanda Siswana
More than 8 500 people have been affected by flooding and high winds after record-breaking Cyclone Freddy made a second landfall in Mozambique in a month, between 11 and 12 March 2023 (overnight).
ForAfrika’s Mozambique staff are on the ground working alongside communities ravaged by the cyclone, which the World Meteorological Organization has said is one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the southern hemisphere and could be the longest-lasting tropical one.
After a meeting on Monday 13 March between Mozambican authorities, led by Secretary of State for Sofala Province Stella Zeca, and humanitarian international and national non-governmental organisations, the latest figures on the devastation the storm has wreaked were released.
These figures refer to the 72 hours to Monday afternoon 13 March 2023 and are provided by Mozambique’s National institute for disaster risk management and reduction in Sofala:
- Families/households affected: 1 721
- Total people affected: 8 572
- Confirmed deaths: 0
- Wounded people: 2
- Houses partially destroyed: 981
- Houses completely destroyed: 482
- Flooded houses: 15
- Schools affected: 25
- Classrooms affected: 44
- Roads: 122 km affected
- Affected districts: Marromeu, Dondo, Caia, Cheringoma and Muanza
- 934 families (3 492 people) sought shelter at accommodation centres (schools)
- Cholera outbreak: in the 24 hours to Monday 13 March 2023: 66 new cases, 0 deaths
Cyclone Freddy will continue to cause destruction in Mozambique, according to Mozambique’s national meteorological institute.
The institute reported that, at 10am on Monday, Cyclone Freddy’s epicentre was in the Mutarara district of Tete Province, with winds of 55km/h and gusts of up to 75km/h. The system was moving within Tete Province towards the district of Tsangano at a speed of 9km/h.
Projections indicated that the system would continue towards Malawi, from where it would return to Mozambique’s Zambézia Province on 15 March, generating moderate winds followed by heavy rains and thunderstorms.
- To find out more about what ForAfrika is doing to alleviate the situation in Mozambique: https://www.forafrika.org/our-work/emergency-response/cyclone-in-mozambique/
- To assist ForAfrika in Mozambique: https://www.forafrika.org/donate/
- Ayanda Siswana
- Account Director
- Mobile 27(0)725978219
- Tel 27(0)870958182
- Email ayanda@flowsa.com
- Website www.flowsa.com
