Extremely dangerous Tropical Cyclone Funso has gained Category 4 status as it whirls southward off southern Africa.

The intense, slow-moving storm has left behind an unknown number of deaths and property damage since it formed off central Mozambique in the Mozambique Channel.

Tuesday, Funso was over open water of the southern Mozambique Channel, drifting southward, and was not an immediate threat to major land areas.

The hardest-hit area of the African nation may have been the province of Zambezia, whose coast was hammered by the storm’s high winds, torrential rain and pounding waves between Friday and Monday. Disaster relief workers said that 12 people died in this province on Sunday, according to the Associated Press.

Since early last week, when Tropical Depression Dando landed with flooding rain and damaging winds near the country’s capital of Maputo, Mozambique has suffered with at least 22 people killed and thousands abandoning their homes, multiple reports have said.

Tuesday morning, Eastern Time, the eye of Funso was between southern Madagascar and Mozambique and about 460 miles northeast of Maputo, according to the Tropical Cyclone Center on the island of La Reunion.

Highest sustained winds estimated by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center were above the 131-mph threshold for a Category 4 hurricane.

Official forecasts aim Funso southward, steering it well clear of both southeastern Africa and southwestern Madagascar during the next two to three days.

Forecast tools accessed by AccuWeather.com tend to concur. However, an approach to the southern coast of Mozambique cannot be ruled out.