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Tropical cyclone Funso still threatens southeastern coast of Africa

tropical-cyclone-funso-still-threatens-southeastern-coast-of-africa

A tropical cyclone Funso raging in the Mozambique Channel will menace the southeastern coast of Africa with potentially damaging winds and flooding rain this weekend and heading into next week. Currently the system is located   and its now within 75 miles of the Mozambique coastline 610 nm northeast of Maputo according to latest Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) warning.  The compact system is displaying a well-defined low-level circulation, and has sustained winds of over 105 mph.  The current forecast has the systems sustained winds approaching 125 mph later this week. TC Funso is expected to turn south, away from land and continue to strengthen as it gains some distance from land.

The showers and thunderstorms from Funso have already triggered localized flooding downpours on Mozambique as well as Madagascar, on the other side of the Mozambique Channel. Once it begins moving southward, it shouldn’t pose as much of a threat to land as it currently does. Funso’s slow-moving nature has added to the problem, bringing a continuous stream of rain into some places.

GDACS reported orange level for Tropical Cyclone Funso impact.  This tropical cyclone can have a medium humanitarian impact based on the storm strength and the affected population in the past and forecasted path. In particular Mozambique are affected by high winds up to 185km/h (51 m/s or 114mph). Up to 0.5 million people can be affected by wind speeds of hurricane strength or above. In addition, 83.93 thousand people are living in coastal areas below 5m and can therefore be affected by storm surge.

The area has already had significant adverse tropical weather this month. Tropical Cyclone Chandra made landfall in western Madagascar early in the month. Tropical Depression Dando landed in southern Mozambique near Maputo on Wednesday leaving  almost 500 people homeless. Torrential rain triggered by Dando also reached into northeastern South Africa.

Right now in the Indian Ocean is also Tropical Cyclone Ethel, which is weaker and possess little threat to land.

 

Featured image: LANCE/EOSDIS/MODIS/AURA

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2 Comments

  1. Hold on Charmaine, keep the trustthat our mother earth is strongly breathing in and out right now, to show us to change our ways, and we will, positive thought from here (netherlands to you) that you will be allright.

  2. I am living in Nelspruit, (close to Mozambique) and our region was affected badly with the first cyclone (Chandra) . I am quite concerned with the second one (Funso) looming on us. This whole planet is a concern right now, with all the goings on. With all the talk of the world coming to an end on 21 December etc, it is a bit difficult not to be concerned. To all the people that have been affected due to the cyclones, our thoughts are with you, and sincerely hope that the second one passes quickly, and no lives will be lost.

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