Already hit for months by floods, the two East African countries will see a cyclone arrive on their coasts this Saturday, May 4.
Kenya and Tanzania are on alert this Saturday, May 4, as Cyclone Hidaya approaches, which is heading towards their Indian Ocean coasts, at a time when these two East African countries vulnerable to climate change are hit by deadly floods.
Kenyan President William Ruto ruled “terrible” the weather forecasts of the country, which will face the first cyclone in its history, and postponed indefinitely the reopening of schools scheduled for Monday. Hidaya is expected to make landfall over the weekend on the Kenyan and Tanzanian coasts. According to William Ruto, he “is expected to cause torrential rain, strong winds and powerful and dangerous waves.”
The Interior Ministry on Thursday ordered anyone living near major rivers or near 178 “dams or reservoirs filled or almost filled with water” to evacuate the area within 24 hours.
“Maximum precautions”
In Kenya since March, at least 210 people have died and nearly 100 others are missing while 165,000 people have been displaced, according to government figures. “No corner of our country has been spared from this devastation,” summed up the president. “Unfortunately, we have not seen the end of this dangerous period,” he added. Members of the opposition and civil society accused the government of unpreparedness in handling the crisis despite weather warnings.
Cyclone Hidaya will peak with gusts of 165 km/h when it makes landfall in neighboring Tanzania this Saturday, according to regional climate center ICPAC. The cyclone season in the southwest Indian Ocean normally runs from November to April and sees around a dozen storms each year.
The Tanzania Meteorological Authority reported on Saturday X that the cyclone was 125 km from the Tanzanian economic capital Dar es Salaam on Friday evening, bringing strong winds and heavy rainfall to several coastal areas. She asked residents living in risk areas and people working in the maritime sector to take “maximum precautions”.
At least 155 people have died in Tanzania in floods and landslides which ravaged crops and swept away homes. East Africa is very vulnerable to climate change and rainfall in the region this year has been amplified by El Niño, a natural climate phenomenon generally associated with global warming, which causes droughts in some parts of the world and heavy rains. abundant elsewhere.
