Maputo, March 10, 2025 (Lusa) - The Mozambican electricity company announced today that 436,397 customers are without electricity in districts of Nampula province in northern Mozambique due to bad weather caused by tropical cyclone Jude.
"Bad weather persists in the province of Nampula, which is causing interruptions to the electricity supply in some regions of that part of the country," according to a statement from Eletricidade de Moçambique (EDM).
The power cuts affect the Nampula, Angoche and Nacala substations, which feed several districts and neighbourhoods in that northern province of Mozambique.
"At the moment, access roads are interrupted, making it difficult to restore the electricity supply to affected customers," EDM added.
Tropical Cyclone Jude entered Mozambique at dawn today, through the Mossuril district of Nampula, with winds of 140 kilometres per hour and gusts of up to 195 kilometres per hour, Manuel Francisco, a meteorologist at Mozambique's National Meteorological Institute (Inam), told Lusa on Monday.
"Immediately after landfall, it [the cyclone] returned to the stage of a severe tropical storm and over the next two days it could vary between a moderate and severe storm," said the meteorologist, adding that the system could also cause heavy rainfall of up to 250 millimetres in 24 hours.
Manuel Francisco added that the storm is affecting the three northern provinces of Mozambique, Nampula, Niassa, and Cabo Delgado. It may move into the centre of Mozambique tonight and condition the weather in the provinces of Zambézia, Tete, Sofala, and Manica.
Inam is calling for precautionary and safety measures in the face of the bad weather.
On Sunday, the National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction (INGD) said that the new cyclone could affect 341,000 people. It said emergency operational committees had already been activated and that meetings were underway between Mozambique's government and partners to map out all the resources available to assist those affected.
Mozambique is in the middle of the rainy season, which runs from October to April. During this period, cyclones Chido and Dikeledi have already hit, affecting the north of the country.
The cyclones hit Mozambique between December last year and January, with the greatest impact on Cabo Delgado and Nampula provinces. They affected around 736,000 people and destroyed public and private infrastructure.
According to data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) previously reported by Lusa, extreme events, such as cyclones and storms, caused at least 1,016 deaths in Mozambique between 2019 and 2023, affecting around 4.9 million people.
The African country is considered one of the most severely affected by global climate change, facing cyclical floods, tropical cyclones during the rainy season, and prolonged periods of severe drought.
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