MAMOUDZOU, Jan 13, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Tropical storm Dikeledi barrelled towards 
Mozambique on Monday after leaving three dead in Madagascar and triggering 
floods in the French territory of Mayotte, less than a month after the 
cyclone-battered region was hit by Chido.

It had hit Madagascar's northern tip as a cyclone Saturday, whipping up 
strong winds and torrential rains.

The storm left at least three dead, according to the National Office for Risk 
and Disaster Management on Sunday.

By Sunday, Dikeledi had weakened into a severe tropical storm, passing 
Mayotte -- France's poorest department -- by about 100 kilometres (60 miles) 
at its closest point.

Mayotte's prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville said the red alert -- imposed 
since Saturday -- would remain in place at least until nightfall.

"We have a territory that is very fragile so I decided to keep this red 
alert," Bieuville, the top Paris-appointed official on Mayotte, said on 
television.

"We still have extremely strong winds and rainfall that is just as strong."

However, no casualties have been reported from the storm, he said.

Diekledi came as the region was still reeling from the deadly Cyclone Chido.

It left at least 39 dead in Mayotte, injuring more than 5,600, and causing 
colossal damage.

When Chido made landfall in the southeast African country of Mozambique in 
December, it inflicted a more punishing toll -- killing at least 120 people 
and injuring more than 900.

By Monday morning around 0200 GMT, Dikeledi was 150 kilometres off the coast 
of Mozambique, according to French weather administration Meteo-France.

It is expected to intensify over the warm waters of the Mozambique Channel to 
reach "the stage of an intense or very intense tropical cyclone", Meteo-
France said.

- 'Loss for words' -

Despite the storm's passage, heavy rains were still expected Monday in 
Mayotte, Floriane Ben Hassen of Mayotte's meteorological centre said on 
television, recommending "great caution in all coastal villages... around 
these high tide peaks".

About a dozen houses in the south and the centre of the archipelago had been 
washed away, according to local emergency services Sunday, while several 
villages had been inundated, including Mbouini, on the southern coast.

"We're traumatised by everything that happened here. We've already been 
traumatised Chido, and now we're at a loss for words," Massa, a resident of 
Mbouini who did not provide her full name, told AFP.

"We're only in the middle of the rainy season, so we don't know what's going 
to happen between now and February or March," she said.

Due to the red alert -- which banned all travel except for rescue services 
and other authorised personnel -- Mayotte's inhabitants have been confined to 
their homes since Saturday until further notice.

But in the capital Mamoudzou, some residents ventured out Sunday on to the 
streets, a few taking advantage of the rain to wash their vehicles. In nearby 
Pamanzi, residents braved the red alert to shore up their roofs weakened by 
the rain.

More than 4,000 people have been mobilised in Mayotte, including members of 
the police and the military, while France's overseas territory minister told 
AFP that 80 accommodation centres were set up to host 14,500 people.

As Dikeledi approaches Mozambique, its Nampula region "should experience very 
degraded conditions" on Monday, Meteo-France said, warning of torrential 
rainfall and "very destructive winds", as well as dangerous sea conditions.

Cyclones usually develop in the Indian Ocean from November to March. This 
year, surface water temperatures are close to 30 degrees Celsius (86 
Fahrenheit) in the area, which provides more intensity to storms, a global 
warming phenomenon also observed in the North Atlantic and the Pacific.