Tropical Cyclone Berguitta: Where is Cyclone Berguitta heading next after La Reunion?
TROPICAL Cyclone Berguitta caused 90mph winds to batter Mauritius, leaving behind a path of destruction, and is currently surging through La Reunion in the Indian Ocean but where is it heading next?
Mauritius and La Reunion narrowly avoided direct hits from Cyclone Berguitta as the storm’s centre passed about 220 miles southeast of Mauritius on January 17.
However, gale-force wind speeds caused widespread flooding and trees to fall on the island.
La Reunion was pounded by heavy rain resulting in mass evacuations and power failures.
Several families were evacuated by rescue services in the town of Le Tampon, according to officials.
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Residents from both islands posted pictures on Twitter showing broken roads and flooding.
Electricity supplier EDF tweeted just before 1pm GMT that it was battling to restore power to 5,000 of its clients left without power after the storm hit.
Where is Cyclone Berguitta heading next?
According to weather forecaster Windy.com, the tropical storm has passed south of La Reunion along the Indian Ocean where it has dropped 35.5mm rain over the last three hours.
WINDY.COM/RAHUL LATCHMAN/TWITTER
Just before 11am GMT, the Met Office tweeted: “Tropical Storm Berguitta now passing just south of La Reunion.
“Over 200mm rain in 24 hours reported in many locations with a peak of 645mm (25.4") at an elevated site.”
The Met Office’s storm tracker shows Berguitta continuing a southerly direction in the next few hours at 50 knots per hour, equivalent to just under 60 mph.
A Met Office spokesman said Berguitta was still passing through La Reunion.
MET OFFICE
He said: “Berguitta continues to weaken so it is now a severe tropical storm.
“What it means in terms of impact is that there will be a lot of heavy rain - about 200mm to 300mm in some places - and strong winds.”
The storm is expected to continue moving through the Indian Ocean in a south-western loop but decreasing its speed to about 40 knots per hour over the coming days.
It is not expected to hit any other islands at the moment - although at one point it was feared Madagascar could take a pummelling from the powerful weather system.
Tropical Cyclone Berguitta: Latest maps as intense storm is set to SMASH Mauritius
Wed, January 17, 2018Tropical Cyclone Berguitta is expected to smash Mauritius and La Reunion this week with the intense storm currently building up strength in the Indian Ocean
Cyclone Berguitta track: Only the edge of the wind danger zone
Cyclone Berguitta recently missed the south-east coast of the UK holiday hotspot, Mauritius, according to meteorologist José García.
He tweeted: "Looks like the eye of Cyclone Berguitta just missed the south-east coast of Mauritius."
Cyclone Berguitta was classed as a category three cyclone by Mauritius’s Meteorological Services with wind speeds of 111 to 129 miles per hour and the potential to cause significant loss to life.
