Tropical Cyclone Freddy still too far from South Africa to hit South Africa

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Currently, sea surface temperatures in this part of the channel are between 28°C and 29°C and will almost certainly lead to Freddy reintensifying. Freddy’s intensity and movement, as well as the system’s later possible landfall somewhere along the coast of Mozambique, is highly uncertain. “Notwithstanding the above, the current official, highest confidence track from RSMC La Réunion suggests Freddy might make landfall this Friday afternoon, February 24, near Beira, a large port city roughly midway along the Mozambican coastline.

“Thereafter, there is a possibility, albeit small, that Freddy might move inland, possibly affecting eastern Zimbabwe and perhaps including the north-eastern sector of Limpopo.”

SAWS said in the event of the latter scenario, even Freddy’s weakened, dissipating remnants would still have the capacity to deliver significantly heavy rainfall, as well as the possibility of extensive flooding. “In the light of the recent, unrelated flooding event that affected Limpopo and Mpumalanga last week, any renewed flooding over these regions could potentially be catastrophic.

“The public can rest assured that the SAWS, in consultation with national and provincial disaster management structures, will continue to monitor developments on a 24/7 basis and will issue regular updates in this regard, across a variety of media and social media platforms.”

Updated information will regularly be available on www.weathersa.co.za, as well as on the SAWS’s Twitter account, @SAWeatherServic.