CHALANE WATCH: Zimbabwe forecast to be safe through to New Year’s Celebration – Met Services Department

The Meteorological Services Department of Zimbabwe(MSD) has called for calm as locals fear that a cyclone could hit the Southern African country’s Eastern Highlands around new year’s day.

An as-yet-to-be-named Tropical Depression is making its way to Madagascar and should it as expected develop into a Tropical Storm then it will be named Chalane.

The storm is expected make landfall in Madagascar by the early morning of 26 December 2020 local time.

As for Zimbabwe, the MSD says that according to forecasts, the country will be safe through to the New Year’s celebration.

The MSD also said that should the tropical storm end up in the Mozambique Channel (the sea area between mainland Africa and Madagascar), it is likely to hit the Nampula area, where Cyclone Kenneth was a few years ago. While Kenneth was was the strongest tropical cyclone to make landfall in Mozambique since modern records began it did not affect Zimbabwe.

As it stands, while early predictions have also indicated that it could hit where Cyclone Idai – which affected Zimbabwe – made landfall, according to Mozambique’s National Institute of Meteorology (INAM), projections indicate that this system could impact the Mozambican coast on 29 or 30 December, affecting Nampula, Zambezia and Sofala provinces.

How strong such a tropical storm might be is unclear as they tend to weaken after hitting land, as expected in the beforementioned Madagascar case.

Zimbabwe’s president Emmerson Mnangagwa has said his government is on high alert should there be a need for emergency services.

Relevant departments have met and at this stage they say evacuations are not on the cards as the data is not calling for it. They do accept that should the data change, they will be ready to do so.

The MSD says it will be keeping an eye on developments and we will update you as soon as we know.