LEON

History

Severe Tropical Cyclone Leon–Eline originated on 1 February 2000 from a monsoon trough disturbance in the eastern Indian Ocean, approximately 250 km south of Bali, Indonesia. The Bureau of Meteorology named it Leon on 4 February, and it was reclassified as a Category 3 severe tropical cyclone on the Australian scale before crossing 90°E on 8 February and being renamed Eline under the jurisdiction of Météo-France's Réunion office.

After a period of weakening and reintensification, Eline made landfall near Mahanoro on Madagascar's east coast late on 17 February with 10-minute winds of 165 km/h. The cyclone weakened rapidly over land but reintensified over the Mozambique Channel, reaching peak 10-minute winds of 185 km/h before striking Mozambique around 80 km south of Beira on 22 February near that intensity. It then tracked across southern Africa, dissipating over eastern Namibia on 29 February after a 29-day, 11,000 km journey.

The storm's impacts were catastrophic. In Madagascar, Eline killed at least 64 people and caused $9 million in damage, with a subsequent cyclone compounding the destruction. In Mozambique, where severe flooding had already claimed around 150 lives, Eline's rainfall triggered the country's worst natural disaster in a century, killing approximately 700 people, displacing around 329,000, and causing an estimated $500 million in damage. Zimbabwe, South Africa, Swaziland, Malawi, and Botswana also experienced significant flooding, casualties, and displacement.

Sources: Bureau of Meteorology report Wikipedia