Tanzania orders schools, businesses closed in Mtwara region with Cyclone Kenneth set to make landfall tonight; locals leaving for safer ground.
Landfall may occur as early as noon on Thursday near the Tanzania and Mozambique border.
The forecaster warns locations from Lindi, Tanzania to Pemba in Mozambique may experience the worst of the storm.
A strengthening tropical cyclone north-west of Madagascar is headed for the coasts of Mozambique and Tanzania, weather authorities and the UN warned.
The Tanzanian Meteorological Agency (TMA) said that Cyclone Kenneth would make landfall overnight packing winds of about 80 kilometres per hour, which were “capable of causing extensive damage.”
Tanzania’s southern regions of Mtwara and Lindi, near the border with Mozambique, were likely to be most affected by the cyclone after it makes landfall, the agency said.
The southern Africa region has not yet recovered from Cyclone Idai which devastated Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe in early March leaving over 1,000 people dead.
“If this depression becomes the next organized tropical cyclone in the South-West Indian Ocean, it would be given the name Kenneth,” said AccuWeather.
The storm is expected to strengthen as it approaches the southern coast of Tanzania and northern coast of Mozambique.
AccuWeather says the rains may reach coastal areas by Wednesday night, increasing in coverage by Thursday morning.
People living up to 500 kilometres from the coast should take precautions, the TMA said.
Authorities in Mtwara told dpa that all schools have been ordered to stay closed on Thursday, and that public servants were asked to stay home and prepare for cyclone-related developments.