A resurgent Tropical Cyclone Freddy struck Madagascar again Monday with heavy rain and strong winds, leaving four people dead nearly two weeks after the storm’s initial destructive passage through the island nation.
Freddy, which has become one of the longest-tracked tropical systems of all time, took an unusual path across the Indian Ocean before initially slamming into Madagascar on Feb. 21 and making its way into Mozambique. According to CNN, the storm’s total death toll in both Madagascar and Mozambique now stands at 21. Some recent victims from the storm were a 1-year-old, who died when a house collapsed, a 2-year-old child and two women in their 50s. Specific details were not available for the deaths of the two women or the 2-year-old child, AFP reported.
Severe tropical storm Freddy has been a presence in the Indian Ocean for a month, traveling more than 4,000 miles from near Indonesia on Feb. 6 before eventually wreaking havoc in Madagascar and Mozambique.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, Freddy will become the longest-lasting tropical cyclone in recorded history if it remains a trackable entity beyond Thursday, reaching 32 days since formation, which AccuWeather forecasters say is highly likely. The record of 31 days is currently held by Typhoon John in 1994.
Freddy will continue to maintain its rotation as it once again heads toward Mozambique, where it will make its third overall landfall and second in the country. No other tropical cyclones observed in the past two decades in this part of the world have taken the unique path across the Indian Ocean that Freddy has. In 2000, Cyclone Leon, also known as Eline, followed a similar track that covered nearly 7,000 miles over 29 days.
Freddy was upgraded to a tropical cyclone on Feb. 7, then quickly upgraded to an Intense tropical cyclone by forecasters later on Feb. 7, with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (169 km/h) — equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane.
Freddy remained over the Indian Ocean for nearly two weeks, peaking as a very intense tropical cyclone with 155 mph (249 km/h) maximum sustained winds on Feb. 15 and then again on Feb. 19. A maximum sustained wind of 155 mph is equal to a high-end Category 4 hurricane.
AccuWeather meteorologists say Freddy will bring additional heavy rain as well as strong winds to parts of western and southern Madagascar into Wednesday, and then it can strike northern Mozambique as a tropical cyclone late this week.