On This Day – January 25th: Cyclone Funso
On this day in 2012, Intense Tropical Cyclone Funso peaked in the Mozambique Channel.
Unofficial Force Thirteen analysis indicates Funso’s peak to have been with winds of 145 mph (1-min sustained) and a pressure of 925 hPa (mbar).
(Credit: NASA/MODIS)
Funso was the first storm since Cyclone Jokwe (2008) to impact Mozambique, and was the strongest tropical cyclone of the 2011-12 Southwest Indian Ocean Cyclone Season.
Cyclone Funso is remembered primarily due to its erratic track in the Mozambique Channel.
The cyclone had also came to a crawl at one point prior to peak and spent several days meandering off the coast of Mozambique.
Even though Funso never made landfall, over three million people were still affected by the storm’s gale-force winds.
A total of 12 lives were lost in the Zambezia Province, and further impacts were also recorded in the Inhambane Province.
The Movene River, the main water source for residents of Maputo, had risen at a substantial rate.
Funso is also responsible for providing flooding across the Incomati River.
In neighboring Malawi, heavy rainfall was also recorded.
(Credit: Météo France)
Two rivers exceeded their banks causing floods that destroyed roads and bridges between Blantyre and Nsanje.
This resulted in at least 30 villages becoming isolated.
Cyclone Funso continued a series of flooding events that had been occurring throughout Southern Africa in 2012.
The flooding itself had begun with an enhanced monsoon, but then, Tropical Storm Dando struck the country and worsened the flooding by a large margin.
When Cyclone Funso stalled off the coast, the flooding was prolific enough to unfortunately claim the lives of up to 40 people.
Funso also became one of the first storms to be animated by Force Thirteen – With this animation coming out almost 10 years ago!
Watch Here: https://youtu.be/e-jWU7In2VQ
