The Limpopo co-operative governance, human settlements and traditional affairs (CoGHSTA) department is on high alert to deal with possible fallout from Cyclone Freddy.

The cyclone wreaked havoc in Madagascar when it hit the island on Tuesday night, causing a storm surge, ripping roofs off houses and killing at least one person, Reuters reported. After crossing Madagascar, Freddy was expected to emerge in the Mozambican Channel and strengthen again before making landfall in Mozambique and potentially moving on to Zimbabwe, affecting more than 3.3-million people in total, according to a World Food Programme assessment.

The South African Weather Service on Wednesday said Freddy may again reach near tropical cyclone status by Thursday evening while heading to southern Mozambique, where it is expected to make landfall just north of Vilanculos on Friday morning.

“It is expected that Freddy will affect the northeastern parts of South Africa from early Saturday until Monday February 27, especially the lowveld and escarpment areas of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, as the weather system will be semi-stationary along the northeastern border for a few days.

“Very heavy rainfall in the order of 200mm to 400mm is possible and this may result in widespread flooding. The affected districts are Vhembe and Mopani in Limpopo and, to a slightly lesser extent, Ehlanzeni in Mpumalanga,” the weather service warned.

Limpopo CoGHSTA spokesperson Hitekani Magwedze said: “Though we realise and acknowledge the cyclone isn't going to hit our province and our country as severely, we remain on high alert. Our agents remain on the ground and on high alert, interacting with community members to see how severe the rain will be.

“As the MEC has been saying, around this season our agents remain on high alert, we remain on high alert to know every impact to every household ... when it's severe, we have to react,” he said.

Magwedze said the department would focus on areas such as the Vhembe, Mopani and Waterberg districts, which have been hit hard by the recent heavy rainfall and floods.

Making things worse is the struggle to access areas where floods have damaged roads and bridges, but Magwedze said they were liaising with councillors in those areas.

On cautioning residents against crossing rivers and streams during floods, Magwedze said the department “continued to up the measures of communicating to our people the dangers of doing that and trying to discourage them from crossing”.

The weather service said “though not as much rain is expected over other places in the northeastern parts, residents of Capricorn (Limpopo), Umkhanyakude, Zululand and Amajuba (KwaZulu-Natal) are urged to be extra vigilant as the situation may be worsened by the recent flooding in these areas.

“In addition to heavy rain, strong winds caused by Freddy are also expected in the northeastern parts from Friday evening, with average speeds of about 45km/h.”

TimesLIVE