Tropical cyclone Freddy, which first lashed the coasts of Madagascar, Mozambique, and then Malawi in mid-February, left devastation in its wake. After making landfall for a second time in early March, more than 57 000 Mozambicans have been affected by the storm.
In previous years, Zinave National Park has been fortunate to escape the worst of the South-West Indian Ocean cyclone seasons, but this year it faced a deluge of rain from Freddy, flooding huge expanses of the park and turning roads into rivers. The Peace Parks team at Zinave has, for more than a month now, been taking precautions, committedly monitoring the weather, and visiting communities surrounding the park to do what they can to ensure people and property are safe.
Efforts have been made by land and air to get rations to the worst affected areas, but rising water levels and saturated land have made this much more challenging than anticipated. Getting in and out of Zinave was possible, but accessing Banhine National Park was extremely difficult, so rations had to be flown in by helicopter to support the team. Peace Parks rangers and staff have been battling Freddy for more than a month, and experts believe it could be the longest-lasting tropical storm ever recorded.
It’s no wonder that Zinave was caught in the unprecedented storm. Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) is the measure based on a storm’s wind strength over its lifetime, and Freddy is now the record holder for it. The storm has also had seven cycles of rapid intensification. A rapid intensification cycle is defined as a period of 24 hours where wind speed increases above 56 km/h. The previous record was four cycles.
Peace Parks TV is keeping in touch with the team in Zinave and wishes them all the best as they seek to return to normal life after battling this devastating and record-breaking storm.
