ZIMBABWE is closely monitoring the movement of Tropical Cyclone Freddy which is expected to affect the eastern parts of the country when it makes a landfall in Mozambique this week.
According to the Meteorological Services Department, Tropical Cyclone Freddy is moving from Madagascar and is expected to make landfall on the eastern coast of Mozambique this Thursday and will likely affect the Eastern parts of Zimbabwe.
“It is slightly above a thousand kilometres away from Madagascar. We expect it to make landfall in Madagascar tomorrow. It will remerge or cross over to the Mozambican channel on the eastern coast.
“We expect it will make landfall on Thursday evening or Friday in Mozambique depending on the speed, it will affect the eastern parts of the country,” said Mrs Linia Gopo, the Deputy Director of Public Weather Services at the Meteorological Services Department.
Meanwhile, the Civil Protection Department says it has already put in place response mechanisms.
This comes after the department received ZWL$235 million from the treasury to equip the sub-aqua unit in line with its contingency plan and disaster response mechanisms.
“To us, Cyclone Freddy is a looming disaster. Since October last year, we haven’t demobilised our structures on the ground. What we need now is replenishing our financial resources to the tune of ZWL$650 million so we can give it to our first responders.
“We are glad that the treasury has released ZWL$235 million for our Sub-Aqua Unit to now gradually replace their obsolete equipment. In most cases we are witnessing people being marooned or drowning,” said Department of Civil Protection Director, Mr Nathan Nkomo.
Tropical Cyclone Freddy will be characterised by heavy downpours, thunderstorms and strong winds, while in some areas it will be associated with lightning and torrential rains.
