Cyclone Kenneth

Intense Tropical Cyclone Kenneth

Cyclone Kenneth at peak intensity approaching Mozambique on 25 April
Meteorological history
Formed	21 April 2019
Dissipated	29 April 2019
Intense tropical cyclone
10-minute sustained (MFR)
Highest winds	215 km/h (130 mph)
Highest gusts	295 km/h (185 mph)
Lowest pressure	930 hPa (mbar); 27.46 inHg
Category 4-equivalent tropical cyclone
1-minute sustained (SSHWS/JTWC)
Highest winds	230 km/h (145 mph)
Lowest pressure	934 hPa (mbar); 27.58 inHg
Overall effects
Fatalities	52 total
Damage	$345 million (2019 USD)
Areas affected	Seychelles, Comoros, Mayotte, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania, Malawi
IBTrACS / [1]
Part of the 2018–19 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season

Intense Tropical Cyclone Kenneth was the strongest tropical cyclone to make landfall in Mozambique since modern records began.^[2] The cyclone also caused significant damage in the Comoro Islands and Tanzania. The fourteenth tropical storm, record-breaking tenth tropical cyclone, and ninth intense tropical cyclone of the 2018–19 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season, Kenneth formed from a vortex that the Météo-France office on La Réunion (MFR) first mentioned on 17 April. The MFR monitored the system over the next several days, before designating it as Tropical Disturbance 14 on 21 April. The disturbance was located in a favorable environment to the north of Madagascar, which allowed it to strengthen into a tropical depression and later a tropical storm, both on the next day. The storm then began a period of rapid intensification, ultimately peaking as an intense tropical cyclone with 10-minute sustained winds of 215 km/h (134 mph) and a minimum central pressure of 934 hPa (27.58 inHg). At that time, Kenneth began to undergo an eyewall replacement cycle and weakened slightly, before making landfall later that day as an intense tropical cyclone.^[2] As a result of land interaction, Kenneth became disorganised as it made landfall and rapidly degenerated thereafter. The storm then shifted southward, with the MFR cancelling all major warnings for inland cities. Kenneth was reclassified as an overland depression after landfall, with the MFR issuing its warning at midnight UTC on 26 April. Thunderstorm activity developed off the coast of Mozambique on 27 April as the system began drifting northward. Kenneth re-emerged off the coast of northern Mozambique on 28 April, before dissipating on the next day.

In the country of Comoros; Kenneth's wind and rainfall caused at least seven deaths. Damage was estimated at US$345 million.^[3] Prior to Kenneth's landfall, local authorities evacuated over 30,000 people in the path of the storm in northern Mozambique.^[4] Kenneth killed 45 people in Mozambique.