Local weather forecaster Dumisani Sithole said, “When the cyclone makes a landfall, it will weaken slightly but the impact will still be felt… Eswatini is safe for now but we are closely monitoring the situation in order to detect in the event it changes its route.”
Expert predictions suggest that the storm would intensify off the western coast of Madagascar and hit through Beira in Mozambique between Thursday and Friday.
“Idai could reach the status of a category four tropical cyclone and there could be sustained wind speed of 204km per hour,” the South African Weather Services announced on Wednesday.