Tropical storms are classified once clouds have reached an organised cyclonic formation and wind speeds have exceeded 60km/h. Regions bordering the East, West and South Pacific are influenced by considerably more tropical cyclones each year than southern Africa. Many named tropical storms and tropical cyclones do not reach the coastlines of islands or continents, and so one doesn’t hear about them in the news. Tropical cyclones and tropical storms gain energy through the evaporation of water over the sea. But there aren’t many examples of countries taking effective steps to deal with tropical storms.

Source: The North Africa Journal February 20, 2017 19:12 UTC