Johannesburg - The SA Weather Service revealed that tropical cyclone Freddy made landfall in Madagascar on Tuesday and was expected to hit some parts of South Africa this weekend.
Models reveal that heavy downpours of rain in the order of 200mm to 400mm are possible, and that this may result in widespread and significant flooding.
It is reported that Freddy will affect the north-eastern parts of South Africa from early Saturday until Monday, especially the lowveld and escarpment areas of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, as the weather system will be semi-stationary along the north-eastern border for a few days.
The districts in question are Vhembe and Mopani in Limpopo, and to a slightly lesser extent Ehlanzeni in Mpumalanga.
This, combined with the recent severe flooding in the lowveld and escarpment areas (including the Kruger National Park), has the potential to be catastrophic and have long-term and severe consequences.
In Madagascar, the relatively compact storm was a low-end category 2 tropical cyclone just before making landfall, with winds of 150km/h and gusts of up to 180km/h.
Freddy weakened significantly due to the rugged terrain it encountered and was downgraded to an overland depression during the evening.
The World Meteorological Organisation-designated regional specialised meteorological centre located at La Reunion forecasts that Freddy will continue in a west-south-westerly direction over the next few days, regaining its strength this evening as it moves into the Mozambique Channel.
Freddy may yet again reach near-tropical cyclone status by Thursday evening while heading to southern Mozambique and making landfall just north of Vilanculos on Friday morning.
It is expected that Freddy will affect the north-eastern parts of South Africa from early Saturday until Monday (February 25 to 27), especially the lowveld and escarpment areas of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, as the weather system will be semi-stationary along the north-eastern border for a few days.
Although not as much rain is expected over other places in the north-eastern parts of the country, residents of Capricorn (Limpopo), as well as Umkhanyakude, Zululand, and Amajuba (KwaZulu-Natal), are urged to be extra-vigilant, as the situation may be exacerbated by the recent flooding events in these places.
In addition to heavy rains, strong winds caused by Freddy are also expected in the north-eastern parts of the country from Friday evening onwards, with average speeds of about 45km/h.
“The public can rest assured that 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,” the service said.
The Star