Tropical Cyclone Freddy has killed at least 14 people, seven in Madagascar and seven in Mozambique displacing over 300,000 persons in Madagascar and more than 163,300 in Mozambique, according to the latest UN situation report.
In his response, the World Food Programme’s representative in Madagascar, Pasqualina Di Sirio said “Even though the intensity of Cyclone Freddy was not as much as we expected, hundreds of thousands of people are in need of humanitarian assistance. Recovery will take months.”
It is unlikely that flooding will extend to south-eastern Zimbabwe as cyclone Freddy did not extend far inland as previously predicted.
In a related climate incident in Mauritius, at least 17 passengers on board Flight DE 2314 were injured, after a Condor Airlines flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to Mauritius was knocked by severe turbulence.
Footage of the plane’s interior showed damages, the plane was caught in severe turbulence while flying near Madagascar, two hours before its scheduled landing in Mauritius.
The flight managed to make an emergency landing at Mauritius international airport at the early hours of Thursday.
Mauritius was hit by Cyclone Freddy last week, causing flights to be grounded. Much of the southern Africa region has been experiencing heavy rains in recent weeks.