By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-01-12 11:29:46 | Updated at 2025-01-12 14:04:13
2 hours ago
Residents of the French territory of Mayotte braced on Sunday for a storm expected to bring strong winds and flash floods less than a month after the Indian Ocean archipelago was devastated by a deadly cyclone.
Mayotte was placed on red alert on Saturday in anticipation of the passage of Dikeledi, a storm forecast to skirt about 100 kilometres south of the territory.
It hit the northern coast of Madagascar as a cyclone on Saturday evening and weakened into a severe tropical storm, but is expected to regain intensity as it moves towards Mayotte.
It could be reclassified as a cyclone by Monday morning, according to French weather service Meteo-France.
At around 6:00am local time the storm was around 260 kilometres southeast of Mayotte, moving at 22 kilometres per hour.
“In terms of impact, Antsiranana province in Madagascar has sustained the most intense conditions in recent hours,” Meteo-France said, referring to the island’s northern tip.
