Staff Reporter.
The South African Weather Service has on Friday warned that the tropical storm in Mozambique and Madagascar has now intensified into a tropical cyclone.
The Beira coastline in Mozambique is bracing for the arrival of Cyclone Eloise.
The cyclone, named Eloise, started as a tropical storm in Madagascar and has continued to grow. It is now identified as a severe tropical storm and would have intensified to become a tropical cyclone when it hits SA on Sunday.
It’s threatening to disrupt one of the country’s key ports and flood thousands of households.
The weather service has issued an alert level 9 warning for the weekend, cautioning disruptive rains over the eastern parts of Mpumalanga and parts of Limpopo.
Forecaster Mbavhi Maliage said: “It’s expected to be a tropical cyclone from now into tomorrow. Then it is expected to moderate and it will be classified as an overland depression, we’re expecting it to still be an overland depression when it starts affecting us on Sunday morning.”
Countries including eSwatini and Malawi have also issued warnings for residents to brace for possible heavy downpours and strong winds.
The weather service said winds in the region of 80km/h could develop, especially over northern Limpopo, on Sunday. It had, therefore, issued a level 4 yellow warning of a significant risk, particularly in areas which “rarely experience such winds”.
“Consequently, it can be expected that numerous trees could be toppled, while informal houses and structures may be damaged,” the weather service said.
The service said the severe tropical storm was currently located in the central part of the Mozambique Channel, moving at a moderate speed of approximately 22km/h. It had “intensified significantly” in the past 24 hours.