The French overseas territory of Mayotte, devastated by the passage of Cyclone Chido in December, will be placed on a red weather alert from 1900 GMT on Saturday, a top official said, as residents of the Indian Ocean archipelago brace for a new storm.

Less than a month since it was hit by a deadly cyclone, the French territory of Mayotte was bracing Sunday for a severe storm expected to bring strong winds and flash floods. Authorities have called for “extreme vigilance” as the French weather service warned residents that the new storm could be reclassified as a cyclone.

The polar vortex of ultra-cold air usually spins around the North Pole, but it sometimes ventures south into the U.S., Europe and Asia. Some experts say such events are happening more frequently, paradoxically, because of a warming world. The cold snap coincided with rare January wildfires tearing through the Los Angeles area.