List of South-West Indian Ocean very intense tropical cyclones

In the South-West Indian Ocean, Meteo France's La Reunion tropical cyclone centre (MFR, RSMC La Reunion) monitors all tropical cyclones. A very intense tropical cyclone (VITC) is the highest category on the South-West Indian Ocean Tropical Cyclone scale, and has winds of over 115 knots (212 kilometres per hour, 132 miles per hour).[1] The most recent very intense tropical cyclone was Cyclone Faraji in 2021.

Satellite image of Cyclone Gafilo nearing Madagascar as one of the most intense tropical cyclones in the South-West Indian Ocean

Background

The South-West Indian Ocean tropical cyclone basin is located to the south of the Equator between Africa and 90°E.[2] The basin is officially monitored by Meteo France who run the Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre in La Reunion, while other meteorological services such as the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Mauritus Meteorological Service as well as the United States Joint Typhoon Warning Center also monitor the basin.[2] Within the basin a very intense tropical cyclone is a tropical cyclone that has 10-minute mean maximum sustained wind speeds of over 115 kn (215 km/h; 130 mph).[2]

Systems

Key

• Discontinuous duration (weakened below VITC then re-strengthened to that classification at least once)

Name	Dates as a very intense tropical cyclone[nb 1]	Duration (hours)	Sustained wind speeds	Pressure	Areas affected	Deaths	Damage (USD)[nb 2]	Refs
Lydie	March 6-8, 1973	30	220 km/h (140 mph)	910 hPa (26.87 inHg)	Réunion	10	$2 million	[3]
Florine	January 7, 1981	6	220 km/h (140 mph)	935 hPa (27.61 inHg)	Réunion
Hudah	April 2, 2000	18	220 km/h (140 mph)	905 hPa (26.72 inHg)	Madagascar, Mozambique	114		[4][5]
Hary	March 10, 2002	6	220 km/h (140 mph)	905 hPa (26.72 inHg)	Madagascar, Réunion	4		[6][7]
Gafilo	March 6–7, 2004	24	230 km/h (145 mph)	895 hPa (26.43 inHg)	Seychelles, Madagascar, Mayotte	363	$250 million	[8][9]
Juliet	April 9–10, 2005	12	220 km/h (140 mph)	905 hPa (26.72 inHg)	Rodrigues	N/A	N/A	[10][11]
Edzani	January 8, 2010	12	220 km/h (140 mph)	910 hPa (26.87 inHg)	No land areas	N/A	N/A	[12]
Bruce	December 20–22, 2013	24	220 km/h (140 mph)	920 hPa (27.17 inHg)	No land areas	N/A	N/A	[13]
Hellen	March 30, 2014	12	230 km/h (145 mph)	915 hPa (27.02 inHg)	Comoros, Mozambique, Madagascar	17	≥$1 million	[14][15][16][17]
Bansi	January 13, 2015	6	220 km/h (140 mph)	920 hPa (27.17 inHg)	Rodrigues	N/A		[18]
Eunice	January 29–30, 2015	24	230 km/h (145 mph)	915 hPa (27.02 inHg)	No land areas	N/A	N/A	[19]
Fantala	April 17–18, 2016	30	250 km/h (155 mph)	910 hPa (26.87 inHg)	Seychelles, Tanzania	13	$3.73 million	[20][21][22][23]
Ambali	December 6, 2019	6	220 km/h (140 mph)	930 hPa (27.46 inHg)	No land areas	N/A	N/A	[24]
Faraji	February 8–9, 2021	12	230 km/h (145 mph)	925 hPa (27.32 inHg)	No land areas	N/A	N/A	[25]

Other systems

The Mauritius Meteorological Service classifies Dina 2002 as a Very Intense Tropical Cyclone.[26] The Australian Bureau of Meteorology estimates that Severe Tropical Cyclone Daryl-Agnielle 1996 peaked with 10-minute sustained winds of 220 km/h (140 mph) which would make it a Very Intense Tropical Cyclone.[27] However, RSMC La Reunion shows that the system peaked with 10-minute sustained winds of 175 km/h (110 mph) which makes it an Intense Tropical Cyclone.[27]

Climatology

Very intense tropical cyclones by month

Month	Number of storms
January	3
February	1
March	3
April	3
December	2

Very intense tropical cyclones by period

Period	Number of storms
2000s	4
2010s	7
2020s	1

See also

• List of Category 5 Atlantic hurricanes
• List of Category 5 Pacific hurricanes

Notes

1. Dates are given in Coordinated Universal Time.
2. All damage values are in USD of their respective years.

References

1. "Tableau de définition des cyclones" (in French). Météo-France. 2008. Archived from the original on September 22, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2009.
2. RA I Tropical Cyclone Committee. Tropical Cyclone Operational Plan for the Tropical Cyclone Operational Plan for the South-West Indian Ocean 2019 (PDF) (Report). World Meteorological Organization. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
3. "Le "club des 500 mm" - Pluies extrêmes à La Réunion". pluiesextremes.meteo.fr. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
4. "Hudah : 2000-03-24 TO 2000-04-09". Météo-France in La Réunion. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
5. Centre des Cyclones Tropicaux de La Réunion. Saison Cyclonique - Sud-Ouest de l'océan Indien (PDF). La Saison Cyclonique A Madagascar (Report) (in French and English). La Réunion: Météo-France. Retrieved May 25, 2013.
6. "Hary : 2002-03-03 TO 2002-03-17". Météo-France in La Réunion. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
7. 2001–2002 South-West Indian Ocean Cyclone Season (Report). Météo-France. pp. 64–75. Retrieved October 23, 2012.
8. "Gafilo: 2004-03-01 TO 2004-03-18". Météo-France in La Réunion. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
9. Cyclone Season 2003–2004. RSMC La Reunion (Report). Meteo-France. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
10. "Juliet : 2005-04-02 TO 2005-04-16". Météo-France in La Réunion. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
11. Agricultural Cost of Production Survey 2005 (PDF) (Report). Republic of Mauritius Central Statistics Office. March 2008. p. 101. Retrieved December 13, 2018.
12. "Edzani : 2010-01-03 TO 2010-01-15". Météo-France in La Réunion. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
13. "Bruce : 2013-12-16 TO 2013-12-25". Météo-France in La Réunion. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
14. "Hellen : 2014-03-26 TO 2014-04-05". Météo-France in La Réunion. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
15. "Mozambique: Four Dead in Torrential Rains in Pemba". Maputo, Mozambique: AllAfrica. March 30, 2014. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
16. "Tropical Depression Hellen overview (as of 1 April 2014)". United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. ReliefWeb. April 1, 2014. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
17. 2014 Annual Global Climate and Catastrophe Report (PDF) (Report). AON Benfield. p. 43. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
18. "Bansi : 2015-01-08 TO 2015-01-19". Météo-France in La Réunion. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
19. "Eunice : 2015-01-24 TO 2015-02-03". Météo-France in La Réunion. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
20. "Fantala : 10/04/2016 TO 26/04/2016". Météo-France in La Réunion. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
21. Athanase, Patsy; Uranie, Sharon (17 May 2016). "$4.5 million in damages from cyclone that hit remote Seychellois island, World Bank says". Victoria, Seychelles. Seychelles News Agency. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
22. "Floods kill seven in N. Tanzania". Philippine News Agency. 26 April 2016.  – via Lexis Nexis (subscription required)
23. "Five killed, over 13,000 left homeless by floods in eastern Tanzania". Philippine News Agency. 28 April 2016.  – via Lexis Nexis (subscription required)
24. "Cyclone 03-20192020". Saison en cours sur le sud-Ouest de l'Océan Indien (in French). Saint-Denis, Réunion: Météo-France La Réunion. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
25. "Cyclone 03-20192020". Saison en cours sur le sud-Ouest de l'Océan Indien (in French). Saint-Denis, Réunion: Météo-France La Réunion. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
26. List of Historical Cyclones (Report). Mauritius Meteorological Service. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
27. "1996 Very Intense Tropical Cyclone Daryl:Agnielle (1995319S05092)". International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship. Retrieved May 7, 2020.