(Bloomberg) -- Tropical cyclone Dineo pummeled Mozambique’ssouthern coastline near a resort town late Wednesday, killing sevenpeople, as it moved west toward South Africa and Zimbabwe,according to weather forecasters.

Infrastructure damaged

It’s the first cyclone to make landfall in the southeast Africannation in almost a decade, with winds gusting up to 180 kilometers(110 miles) per hour and rainfall expected to exceed 150millimeters during the 24 hours it passes over both coastal andinland areas, the Geneva-based WorldMeteorological Organization said on its website. Dineo reachedthe coast at about 6:30 p.m., it said.

After moving onto land, Dineo weakened significantly becauseit’s cut off from the ocean’s heat that it needs to survive,according to the South African Weather Service. It’s now classifiedas a tropical depression.

As it tracks toward the northeastern parts of South Africa andZimbabwe, heavy rains will continue, the agency said. The greatestimpact in South Africa will be overnight Thursday into Fridaymorning, with heavy rains over the country’s Limpopo province,which includes Kruger NationalPark.

Heavy rainfall, flooding

“The system will still pose a great risk for the next 36 to 48hours, particularly in terms of further exceptionally heavyrainfall and resultant flooding,” the South African Weather Servicesaid on its website. “Very heavy rain, of the order of 100millimeters (3.9 inches) to 200 millimeters can be expected overthe eastern half of Limpopo province, continuing into Friday.”

Eye Witness News, based in Johannesburg, said Dineo killed sevenpeople, citing the government’s disaster center. Statebroadcaster Radio Mocambique reported that four people died andthat the storm cut telephone communications and electricitysupplies in Mozambique’s Inhambane and Gaza provinces. Schools andgovernment offices in both provinces were closed and infrastructurewas damaged, it said.

The storm is the ninth tropical cyclone to have struckMozambique since 1990, according to Jeff Masters, co-founder ofcommercial forecaster WeatherUnderground in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The most recent wastropical cyclone Jokwe in 2008.

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