Cyclone Chalane is projected to make landfall in Mozambique
next week, triggering fears that it could end up in Zimbabwe just like Cyclone
Idai which hit the country last year.
Cyclone Idai left more than 300 people dead, hundreds more
missing while displacing more than 20 000 families in the eastern highlands.
The country is still to fully recover from the Cyclone Idai
effects which also destroyed infrastructure worth millions of dollars.
The Meteorological Service Department (MSD) yesterday said
it was monitoring the developing tropical storm and will advise the nation on
how it will affect Zimbabwe by Sunday.
MSD head of forecasting Mr James Ngoma said the Civil
Protection Unit’s structures have been activated to ensure that citizens are
protected.
He said the country was not leaving anything to chance as
already heavy rainfall in most parts of the country has caused flash floods in
some instances.
“A depression not yet a tropical cyclone is currently
developing in the Indian Ocean located approximately to the North East of
Mauritius and the far east of Madagascar. It will continue south eastward with
steady intensification over the next few days. The potential of development of
a significant tropical cyclone is still very high.
Because of this, we still continue to monitor the
everchanging trajectory but it will end up near Nampula in Mozambique,
according to the current trajectory,” said Mr Ngoma.
He said the cyclone could end up like the Cyclone Kenneth
that hit Mozambique last year in April, and not affecting Zimbabwe.
Cyclone Kenneth occurred just a month after the region
experienced the devastating effects of Cyclone Idai which left more than 1 300
dead in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
“Because of its nature it might develop like Tropical
Cyclone Kenneth but due to the radical nature of the systems we are
experiencing at the moment, the MSD will continue to track the cyclone and keep
the public informed. So, we are still monitoring the situation to see when it
will land in Zimbabwe.
The CPU committees at district and national level have been
activated so all areas have been covered and they will be there on the ground
to ensure that all citizens of the country are safe,” said Mr Ngoma.
“The first country that might be affected is Madagascar
that’s when it will fall on the main African continent. So, at the moment we
cannot confirm or refute whether it will affect Zimbabwe. Based on the current
rains it is indicative of the rains that were projected by the MSD of normal to
above normal rainfalls.”
He said the landing of the tropical cyclone in Madagascar
on Sunday will give Zimbabwe enough time to plan on how the country should
handle the storm.
In preparing for the 2020/2021 normal to above normal rainy
season, Cabinet approved a US$30 million budget to capacitate the CPU to
respond to any rain-related disasters. Chronicle
0 comments:
Post a Comment