Tropical Cyclone Eloise hits Beira, to weaken over land

Tropical Cyclone Eloise has made landfall just south of Beira, Mozambique in the pre-dawn hours Saturday morning, local time.

The storm will continue to press inland over the weekend, bringing along heavy rain, and gusty winds to Mozambique, Zimbabwe and northern South Africa.

On Friday, local time, Eloise strengthened into a severe tropical storm. On the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale this is equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane.

Significant wind damage is expected along the coast near the point of landfall. The most likely area to endure these damaging winds is in southern Mozambique between Beira and Inhambane. 

Winds could be strong enough to lead to widespread power outages lasting for days. Weaker structures could also sustain significant damage. 

The storm is forecast to bring extreme conditions to areas that have already been hard-hit by tropical systems in recent months.

Making landfall just south of Beira, which was hit by Tropical Cyclone Chalane late in December, some of the worst impacts from Eloise may have ended up just south of the city. Regardless of the near miss, residents in the area were urged to take appropriate precautions ahead of the arrival of the storm.

Also near and just to the south of the landfall location, strong onshore winds can cause water to pile onto the coast leading to significant flooding of low-lying coastal areas. This is knows as a storm surge. The storm surge has the potential to inundate some areas with 1-2 meters (3.3-6.6 feet) of water. 

Because of the threat for storm surge flooding, residents living in low-lying coastal communities near the point of landfall are urged to seek shelters on higher ground.

Widespread and heavy rainfall will also be a significant threat from Eloise and can reach much farther inland than the threat for damaging winds and storm surge will.

Much of southern Mozambique, Eswatini (Swaziland) and extreme northeastern South Africa can all be threatened by flooding from Friday night into Monday. 

Widespread areas of 100-200 mm (4-8 inches) of rain are expected, with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 500 mm (20 inches). The heaviest rain looks most likely to fall near the point of landfall along the southern Mozambique coast as well as in far southern Mozambique, near Maputo, and into extreme northeastern South Africa, generally to the north of Richards Bay. 

While it weakens into an overland depression, flooding and high winds will be expected across Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Heavy rainfall from Eloise is expected to dissipate early next week as the storm continues to become less organized, but locally heavy downpours could last into the middle of the week due to the remaining tropical moisture across the region.

Accuweather

Find out how it will affect Zimbabwe by playing the update below:

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