The National weather services in three southern African countries namely Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe have issued alerts of a tropical cyclone set to hit southern Mozambique late on Wednesday night (15 February 2017) or early morning on Thursday (16 February 2017).
The consensus among the meteorological community is that the tropical cyclone named Dineo which is currently spinning in the Mozambican channel should intensify on Wednesday afternoon.
The tropical cyclone is expected to severely impact parts of southern Mozambique before its weakened form moves towards eastern South Africa and southern Zimbabwe; three countries which are already dealing with a crop threatening army-worm invasion.
“An obvious concern for communities over southern Mozambique will be torrential rain, resulting in widespread flooding. Furthermore, along the southern coastline of Mozambique, strong and damaging winds as well as sea conditions are expected to become very rough,” the South African weather service said in a press release on Tuesday.
The tourist destination town of Inhambane, 470km northeast of the Mozambican capital Maputo is expected to bear the brunt of cyclone Dineo.
According to a forecast cyclone track shown on the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre website, the tropical cyclone should make landfall over or just to the north of Inhambane.
Besides torrential rains and strong winds expected to reach 166 km/h, Inhambane, a coastal town, faces the threat of massive storm surges.
The South African weather service expects tropical cyclone Dineo to remain strong on Thursday as it moves through southern Mozambique towards eastern South Africa, producing heavy rains in the region of 100 to 200mm in 24 hours.
The weather service also expects heavy rains to start on Thursday night over the lowveld areas of South Africa’s Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces.
“The greatest impact with respect to South African provinces is suggested to be on Friday the17th, when heavy rain can be expected over the entire eastern half of Limpopo (including the Kruger National Park),” the South African weather service added in their press statement.
Meanwhile the Meteorological Services Department of Zimbabwe which is also monitoring tropical cyclone Dineo also issued a high alert for Zimbabwe’s Masvingo, Matebeleland South and Manicaland provinces.
“The Meteorological Services Department wishes to issue a high alert for tropical cyclone-type rainfall that is forecast from Thursday 16 to Monday 20 February 2017. The areas likely to be impacted most are Masvingo and Matebeleland South provinces as well as the southern areas of Manicaland province,” reads part of the alert.
