By Joyce Mukucha
The Meteorological Services Department (MSD) has warned that a new potential Tropical Cyclone Eloise is forming over the Indian Ocean and is expected to make landfalls in Madagascar, Mozambique and Zimbabwe as early as next week.
This was also revealed by the International Organization for Migration.
In a statement issued on the 18th of January 2020, MSD said Eloise is currently a tropical storm and is expected to weaken when it makes landfall over Madagascar in the next 24 hours.
“The tropical system named Eloise is not yet a tropical cyclone (is developing). It is currently a moderate tropical storm, to the north of Mauritius.
“It is expected to make landfall over Madagascar in the next 24 hours and decrease in intensity before it re-emerges in the Mozambique Channel on Thursday evening 21 January 2021.”
The trajectory (the path the system will take), as well as the intensity (strength of the system), MSD said, may vary greatly during this period and thereafter.
“We will continue to monitor, assess and keep the public informed.”
Last month, Zimbabwe escaped a tropical cyclone after Chalane weakened to a tropical storm when it made landfall.
Recently, the MSD warned that tropical cyclones and serious floods remain a real danger in the second half of the 2020/21 rainy season.
