The violent tropical cyclone Freddy is 1,530 km from Réunion this Saturday, February 18 at 4 p.m. The phenomenon is spreading westwards at a speed of 19 km/h and poses a potential hazard. The island is put on cyclone yellow alert.
LH • Posted Feb 18, 2023 at 5:03 PM, updated Feb 18, 2023 at 5:43 PM
At 4 p.m. this Saturday, February 18, Tropical Cyclone Freddy is 1,530 km east-northeast of Réunion. The phenomenon, which has winds of up to 260 km/h in gusts at its center, is moving west towards the Mascarene Islands at a speed of 19 km/h.
Violent tropical cyclone Freddy is heading towards Réunion. • ©Weather France
Freddy is a violent tropical cyclone that poses a potential threat. As of 7pm yesterday Friday February 17, Reunion has been placed in a pre-cyclonic Yellow Alert. This means that the population has to be kept informed about the development of the phenomenon. She should also check and replenish supplies of drinking water, food, batteries and candles.
Depending on the evolution of the phenomenon in the coming hours, the orange alert may go off 24 hours before the cyclone arrives. Schools and daycare centers will then be closed, but business operations will continue.
Intense tropical cyclone Freddy is a particularly strong and compact system that generates extreme winds near its center, Météo France warns. Its sphere of influence is therefore reduced, it would therefore show little impact felt over 200 km from the center.
Although the trajectory of the phenomenon and its timing appear to be broadly known, details such as the distance to the passage closest to Réunion and the conditions of that passage remain uncertain.
For the moment, Météo France estimates that the violent tropical cyclone could have a direct impact or pass within a 400km radius of Réunion.
At 4 p.m. this Saturday, February 18, Tropical Cyclone Freddy was 1,530 km from Réunion. • ©Weather France
So Freddy will approach the Mascarenes from the north-east with a passage north of Rodrigues on Sunday evening, Mauritius on Monday at the end of the day and Reunion between Monday evening and Tuesday morning.
His race should then lead him to a landing on the east coast of Madagascar on Tuesday evening in a mature state. Landing location and exact time have yet to be determined.