Mozambique Braces for Tropical Cyclone Kenneth

by | Apr 24, 2019

Just five weeks after enduring the worst natural disaster in its recorded history, Mozambique is facing another serious storm threat.

In March 2019, Tropical Cyclone Idai brought two rounds of devastating rainfall, a 2.5-meter storm surge, and fierce winds, flooding large portions of Mozambique and causing landslides as far inland as Zimbabwe. An estimated 1,000 people died in eastern Africa from the storm, and the damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure was counted in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Now Tropical Cyclone Kenneth is headed for a predicted landfall in northern Mozambique on April 25, 2019. The storm has rapidly intensified, passing over the Comoro Islands as a category 1 storm on April 24. The U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center is predicting sustained winds of 100 knots (115 miles/185 kilometers per hour) just before landfall.

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured this image on April 24, 2019.

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using VIIRS data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership

NEWEST V1 MEDIA PUBLICATION

October Issue 2023