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DAR ES SALAAM — Tanzania was on high alert Saturday as Cyclone Hidaya moved closer to the coast, bringing with it strong rains, heavy winds and the threat of storm surges and power outages.
The cyclone, which is moving across the western Indian Ocean with maximum sustained winds of 75 km per hour, is expected to pass by the major coastal city of Dar es Salaam late Saturday or early Sunday, but not directly make landfall there, the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS) said.
Severe weather was forecasted for eastern Tanzania through Tuesday.
Authorities have suspended marine transport between the island of Zanzibar and the mainland and have warned people across the country to take precautions.
According to the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, torrential rainfall and flooding since March have caused devastation in Tanzania, Burundi, Kenya, Somalia, Rwanda, and other parts of East Africa.
It has affected 2,05,000 people in Kenya, 1,79,000 in Burundi, 1,27,000 in Somalia, and over 1,25,670 in Tanzania, the body said in a recent report.
In Kenya, hundreds have died in storms in the past two weeks, and tens of thousands of families are homeless.
Storms during the long rainy season that begins in March are not unusual. However, this year, the torrential rain has been intensified by the El Niño weather phenomenon. Experts say climate change has also exacerbated this regularly recurring weather phenomenon.