Mauritius emergency response teams are keeping a close eye as the entire country braces itself for cyclone Batsirai that threatens to hit the island on Wednesday morning.
The Mauritius Meteorological Services issued Class III warning at 4.10pm on Tuesday – the second highest alert level – for likely cyclonic conditions in the event of a further curvature.
The Met Office added that Batsirai has intensified slightly with gusts up to 200 km/h near its centre.
Winds around 120km/h are expected on the island, as well as heavy rain, high tides and storm surges that could lead to coastal and localised flooding.
At 4pm, Batsirai was centred at about 410 km to the north-east of Mauritius, in latitude 17.2 degrees South and longitude 60.2 degrees East. It is moving in a direction between the south-west and west-south-west at about 15 km/h.
On this trajectory, tropical cyclone Batsirai is approaching Mauritius and constitutes a direct threat to the Island, the Met alerted.
“Since Batsirai is of small diameter, the maximum wind is confined within 30 km radius of the Centre.
“However, outer cloud bands are likely to cross the Island as from late tonight triggering heavy rain and strong gusts reaching 120 km/h,” it said.
And any further recurvature of the trajectory towards the south, the Met Office added, will bring the centre even closer to Mauritius with increased risk of having cyclonic conditions over the island.
Gusts of the order of 100 km/h should be expected, strenghtening gradually to exceed 120 km/h early tomorrow morning.
Waves of up to 7 metres are feared.
The next bulletin will be issued in the evening.
