CHALANE WATCH: Zimbabwe intensifies awareness in Eastern Highlands and starts listing evacuation centres

Chalane is now officially a Tropical Storm and will now be called by that name after it reached that status late Thursday.

It is set to hit Madagascar on Saturday, which will slow it down for a bit before it is expected to hit the Mozambique Channel (the sea area between Mozambique and Madagascar) from next week.

Where it will hit Mozambique mainland is not clear. Some suggestions are that it will hit Nampula which would be far from Zimbabwe.

Alternatively, the weather system may eventually emerge over the Mozambique Channel around 29 December and move towards central Mozambique, where Cyclone Idai hit nearly two years ago. According to Mozambique’s National Institute of Meteorology (INAM), projections indicate that the storm could impact the Mozambican coast on 29 or 30 December, affecting Nampula, Zambezia and Sofala provinces. After making landfall in Mozambique, the storm could proceed towards Zimbabwe, following a trajectory similar to Cyclone Idai, with Chimanimani District most at-risk according to current predictions. The Meteorological Services Department is on alert and monitoring the situation.

Zimbabwe’s Meteorological Services Department has noted that tropical storms tend to weaken after hitting land, in this case Madagascar. Hi

As it stands it is not clear if Chalane will become a Cyclone but Zimbabwean authorities are not taking chances.

The Department of Civil Protection has started sending out notices to residents in the Eastern Highlands to be on high alert for a possible cyclone. This has included specific instructions such as moving to high ground and following official advice.

Also named are evacuation centres after a meeting of the Civil Protection Unit in Chipinge.