Storm Enmati: Winds and extreme weather to pick up during the week-end

Updated on 18 February 11.15am

The Mauritius Meteorological Services have just issued a cyclone warning Class 1, suggesting that the week-end is likely to be spoilt by storm Emnati with heavy rain, damaging winds and coastal flooding.

The Met Office said the Emnati has evolved into a ‘severe tropical storm’ and was centred at about 825 km to the north-east of Mauritius at 10am.  It is moving in a general  westerly direction at a speed of about 20 km/h.  

Most weather models seem to be in agreement that Emnati will assume a south-west trajectory in the next few hours and continue to intensify to reach the tropical cyclone intensity as it passes in the vicinity of St Brandon.

“On this new trajectory, severe tropical storm Emnati will start to approach our region and become a  potential threat to Mauritius,” the Met Office warned.

The sky will become gradually cloudy to overcast with intermittent rain as from late tonight. The rain will become more frequent and moderate to heavy at times with thunderstorms tomorrow morning.      

Winds are expected to blow from the southeast at a speed of about 40 km/h with gusts of the order of 65 km/h, strengthening as from Saturday morning.  

The sea will be rough becoming gradually very rough tonight with swells of the order of 4 metres. The public is advised not to venture at sea.

The St Brandon group of Islands will most likely experience cyclonic conditions on Friday afternoon.

So, get ready for some significant deterioration of the weather during the weekend.