Tropical storm Freddy, the longest-lived tropical cyclone on record which hit Madagascar, southern Mozambique and Zimbabwe in the third and fourth weeks of last month before returning to sea, is far from dead.
The destructive storm has been rebuilding strength near the southwest coast of Madagascar and is projected to head towards northern Mozambique around Saturday.
While the storm in its present position has been keeping skies clear in much of Southern Africa, the building up of its strength while parked over the Mozambique Channel is now starting to bring stormy weather to Southern Africa, with storms likely in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe from tonight and Mashonaland provinces into the weekend.
The growing spinning cloud bands will be the main cause of this stormy and rainy weather.
In a joint statement, the Meteorological Services Department and Department of Civil Protection have warned that there will be isolated thunderstorms over the Eastern Highlands from this evening spreading to the Mashonaland provinces into the weekend.
These storm may be coupled with moderate to strong winds, flash flooding in areas with saturated soils, wetlands and impervious grounds and along river basins.
“Tropical Storm Freddy is currently in a quasi-stationary position near the southwest coast of Madagascar. In this position it dries out much of the SADC region. It is projected to move north-west towards the northern parts of Mozambique within the next four to five days.