Cyclone Freddy: Winds and rain lash Mozambique as storm nears

Mozambique is being lashed by rain, powerful winds and flooding as Cyclone Freddy is about to make landfall for the second time in a month.

The southern African nation has received more than a year's worth of rainfall in the past four weeks.

Freddy may become the longest-lasting storm on record, having formed to the north-west of Australia 34 days ago.

One person is reported to have died, bringing the death toll to at least 28 since the storm first made landfall.

People have been urged to move into temporary shelters - including schools, churches and warehouses.

More than half a million people could be at risk of a humanitarian crisis this time around, according to local disaster agencies.

As the high winds hit the country one person died when his house collapsed, Reuters news agency quotes state channel TVM as saying.

Electricity has been turned off as a precaution by the power utility firm and all flights have been suspended, TVM is reported to have said.

The cyclone is reported to have stalled offshore and is thought to be making its way on to land soon.

"I can see some houses with roofs torn apart, broken windows and the streets flooded. It's really scary," charity worker Vania Massingue, from the port city of Quelimane in Zambezia province, told Reuters.

Experts says climate change is making tropical storms around the world wetter, windier and more intense.

Freddy has already broken records for the strength it has accumulated over the 8,000-km (5,000-mile) path it travelled across the Indian Ocean for north-western Australia.