Tanzania declared a state of maximum alert today, Saturday, as Cyclone Hidaya approached the coast, bringing with it heavy rains and strong winds, threatening storms and power outages.
The cyclone, which is moving across the western Indian Ocean, with maximum wind speeds of 75 kilometers per hour, is expected to pass near the main coastal city of Dar es Salaam on Saturday evening, or early Sunday morning, but it will not reach land. Directly there, according to the Global Disaster Warning and Coordination System.
The weather is expected to be bad in eastern Tanzania until next Tuesday.
The authorities stopped maritime transport between the island of Zanzibar and the mainland, and warned citizens in various parts of the country to take precautions. The Prime Minister of Tanzania, Kassim Majaliwa, said before parliament on April 25 that heavy rains in eastern Africa in recent weeks had claimed the lives of at least 155 people and destroyed more than 10,000 homes in his country alone.
He said that a total of 200,000 people were affected by the rains. The global climate phenomenon El Nino coincided with the start of the regional rainy season at the end of last month.
Rain fell in areas where rainfall is rare. Herders were particularly hard hit, with their livestock drowned and their fields flooded.
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