Saturday 18 March 2023

Freddy: The deadly cyclone that lasted more than a month

 


Malawi, Madagascar and Mozambique are reeling from the effects of Tropical Cyclone Freddy.

More than 400 people have been killed and thousands of homes destroyed.

Freddy has been one of the longest-lived storms ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere, if not the whole world.

Southern Africa is often battered by cyclones and tropical storms coming in from the Indian Ocean but Freddy was different for several reasons.

How long has Freddy lasted?

Freddy has finally been declared over by the French Meteorological service. The storm was named by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology on 4 February and and finally came to an end on 14 March.

It was strong enough to be officially classified as a tropical system for at least 36 days.

However, we need to wait for confirmation by the World Meteorological Organization before we can say whether it is officially the longest-lasting recorded storm.

What is interesting about Freddy is how far it has travelled. It began its journey off the coast of north-west Australia, crossing the Southern Indian Ocean from east to west, one of only four storms in history to do so.


read more from source - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-64978492


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