Mauritius: Fifth cyclone bulletin for Mauritius was issued at 1610 hours on Sunday, 19 February 2023. Over the last 6 hours, Freddy has continued to weaken and is now an intense tropical cyclone. It has also accelerated with a slight curvature in its trajectory towards the south.
The estimated central pressure of Freddy is around 930 hPa, and the estimated wind gusts near its centre are about 280 km/h. At 1600 hours, intense tropical cyclone Freddy was centred at about 720 km to the east-north-east of Mauritius near latitude 17.3 degrees south and longitude 64.1 degrees east. It is moving in a west-south-westerly direction at a speed of about 25 km/h.
On this new trajectory, Freddy is dangerously approaching Mauritius and may represent a direct threat to the island. It may pass at about 140 km at its closest distance to the north west of the island on Monday evening.
A cyclone warning class II is in force in Mauritius. The public in Mauritius is advised to complete all preliminary precautions. Weather will be partly cloudy to cloudy, with passing showers mainly to the east and over the central plateau.
Wind will blow from the southeast at a speed of about 30 km/h. The sea will become gradually rough beyond the reefs tonight with swells. It is advised not to venture into the open sea as of tonight.
The weather conditions are expected to deteriorate rapidly in the early afternoon tomorrow, Monday 20, with intermittent rain and gusts of the order of 100km/h.
The sea will become very rough to high with heavy swells tomorrow morning. A cyclone warning class II is in force in Mauritius. If intense tropical cyclone Freddy maintains this trajectory towards the west-southwest, the warning bulletin may be upgraded to Class III at 0410 hours tomorrow morning.
The next bulletin will be issued at around 22h10.