Very Intense Tropical Cyclone Freddy was a powerful and long-lived tropical cyclone which affected the Mascarene Islands, Madagascar, and Mozambique in February 2023. It was one of only four systems to traverse the entirety of the southern Indian Ocean from east to west; the others were cyclones Litanne in 1994 and Leon–Eline and Hudah in 2000. It is the only known tropical cyclone to achieve four separate rapid intensification cycles. It was the fourth named storm of the 2022–23 Australian region cyclone season, and the second very intense tropical cyclone of the 2022–23 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season. Freddy first developed as a disturbance embedded within the monsoon trough on 5 February. While in the Australian region cyclone basin, the storm quickly intensified and became a Category 4 severe tropical cyclone, before it moved into the South-West Indian Ocean basin, where it intensified further. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) estimated 1-minute sustained winds of at Freddy's peak strength, equivalent to Category 5 strength on the Saffir–Simpson scale. On 19 February, Météo-France (MFR) upgraded it to a very intense tropical cyclone, estimated 10-minute winds of . Freddy made its first landfall near Mananjary, Madagascar. The storm rapidly weakened overland but re-strengthened in the Mozambique Channel. Shortly afterward, Freddy made second landfall just south of Vilankulos, Mozambique, before rapidly weakening. Preparations for the storm in the Mascarene Islands included flight groundings, cyclone alerts, and personnel being prepped for the aftermath, among other things. In Madagascar, areas previously affected by Cyclones Batsirai and Cheneso were feared to be worsened by the storm's arrival. On 20–21 February, Freddy skirted Mauritius and Réunion to the north, bringing strong winds and adverse weather conditions. In the latter, 25,000 customers lost power. The cyclone struck southeastern Madagascar, damaging many homes. Freddy killed at least 16 people. Impacts in Mozambique were not as severe as Madagascar, but included heavy rainfall in the southern half of the country, and widely damaged infrastructure. Some parts of the country received more than a foot of rain. In the aftermath, UNICEF and the WFP provided relief items for those affected, as well as temporary shelters. Meteorological history Origins During 30 January, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) began monitoring a developing weak tropical low embedded within a monsoon trough in Timor Sea. The disturbance was assigned the official identifier code 13U. Environmental conditions were assessed as being marginally conducive for tropical