It’s raining heavily for 7 days in Chimanimani and govt is still to evacuate people. Why are you delaying the rescue, why wait for the cyclone to hit the land @nickmangwana @Jamwanda2 ? pic.twitter.com/91mDrUNHUg
— ZimEye (@ZimEye) December 26, 2020
Official reports on Thursday said a tropical storm named Cyclone Chalane will hit parts of Madagascar and parts of Mozambique from the 31sr December.
A Senior quoted by AccuWeatherJason Nicholls, said the storm will increase as it drifts from its point of origin in the Indian Ocean.
A tropical low located well southwest of Diego Garcia will continue to strengthen as it drifts westward over the next few days.
As this tropical depression slowly drifts westward, it will enter an area of atmospheric conditions that will likely allow for further strengthening.
To strengthen, tropical systems need at least two main atmospheric ingredients warm waters and a lack of vertical wind shear.
Vertical wind shear, which is the change in direction and speed of winds at increasing heights in the atmosphere, is forecast to remain low across the southwestern Indian Ocean throughout the week.
Warm water and favorable atmospheric conditions are expected to allow this low to strengthen into Tropical Storm Chalane this week.
As the storm strengthens, it will continue to track slowly westward into the weekend.
The tropical depression likely to be named Chalane can strengthen enough to achieve moderate or severe tropical-storm status, as designated by Météo France’s La Réunion, later this week
Nicholls further explained the areas that will be hit by the expected storm:
As the storm approaches northern Madagascar late this week, periods of tropical rainfall, gusty winds and rough seas will begin to increase across the region.
The storm is expected to strike northeast Madagascar on Saturday and may eventually emerge over the Mozambique Channel early next week, local time
The publication said the heaviest rainfall of Cyclone Chalane (between 100-200mm) will mostly impact northern Madagascar and the country’s eastern coast from late Friday through Monday and it will likely lead to flooding and mudslides.