RUVIMBO MUCHENJE
Cyclone Chido is expected to make landfall in Mutoko, northeast of Zimbabwe on Monday at midday, Meteorological Services Department head of forecasting James Ngoma says.
The islands of Comoros, Madagascar and Mayotte in the Indian Ocean are bracing for Cyclone Chido as it makes its way toward Africa’s east coast, from there to nearby landlocked countries, including Zimbabwe.
Ngoma was speaking during a press briefing today at the Department of Civil Protection in Harare today, saying Chido is likely to be less destructive when it makes landfall in Mutoko in three days, compared to the havoc it is wreaking in the Indian Ocean.
“We are approximating that it will reach Zimbabwe from 16 December from around 12 noon going into the 17th of December,” Ngoma said.
The cyclone was expected to make its first contact with land in Madagascar’s Antsiranana at 2pm today before it starts making its way to Mozambique, then to Zimbabwe in three days.
Ngoma said:“Current position, it’s just to the northeast of Madagascar, and it’s going to touch a city called Antsiranana which is to the extreme north of Madagascar and what speed is it traveling at? It’s moving at 20 kilometers per hour. That’s the speed that it’s moving laterally, but it doesn’t involve the spin speed.
“It’s 1 919 kilometres from Mutoko. The effects will be felt whilst it’s still in Mozambique and parts of Malawi. But however, initially, the track that you are seeing right now was going along the coast of Mozambique. It was inclined this way and coming that way and coming out in Maputo. This current trajectory came in yesterday and into today. So these paths can change,”Nagoma added
Six provinces are currently on the watch list.
“Our current watch areas are Manicaland, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland West, as well as Harare Metropolitan. All of them are in the watch category. They are not yet in the alert category. Once we move into the alert, we will remove some of the provinces and we will specify maybe even the ones that will be affected most.
“I think most of us remember tropical cyclone Fred which did a dance around in Zimbabwe, went to Mozambique, then ended up in Malawi and caused devastation there. So these cyclones can move in a haphazard manner, especially when they touch land.”
The cyclone is likely to lose power as it navigates through different countries and as a result it will reach Zimbabwe moving at 45 knots (83.3 kilometres per hour).
“So the current wind speeds that it’s spinning at is between 210 to 220 kilometres per hour. That is whilst it’s still close to Madagascar. And with these wind speeds, the destruction is unimaginable. You get trees being pulled out, roofs being blown off, waters being carried from the ocean onto land, and disasters are unproportional. But when it reaches Zimbabwe, it’s projected to be moving at about 45 kilometres to about 50 kilometres per hour. But this might change. So we’ll continue to monitor this and advise you better as the weekend progresses,” Ngoma said.
“And from there, we’ll know how it’s been deflected or what effects that landmass has had on the cyclone. And then we can predict better in terms of rainfall, in terms of direction, in terms of whichever path it will take.”
