While the country is still suffering from the aftermath of Batsirai and the torrential rains of Dumako, Emnati is emerging as a potential cyclone and threatens to affect us fully this weekend. The possibility of being hit by gusts of up to 100 km/h is already on the weather station forecast for Sunday, February 20.
All indications are that we will be under a cyclonic alert this weekend. At 4pm on Wednesday 16 February, the tropical depression was centred around 14.2 degrees South in latitude and 69.1 degrees East, about 1450km north-east of Mauritius. It is moving in a general westerly direction at about 20km/h and is approaching our region.
It is expected to intensify into a moderate tropical storm by midday on Thursday 17 and will then be named Emnati. The Vacoas Meteorological Station has already forecast heavy rain and strong gusts for Saturday 19 and that the storm will intensify further on Sunday with gusts from 50km/h up to 100km/h. The weather will start to deteriorate on Friday evening.
