Melisa Chatikobo
STAFF WRITER
THE Meteorological Services Department (MSD) has allayed fears that Zimbabwe could be hit by floods this week, amid expectations of light rains in some parts of the country.
Speaking to the Daily News yesterday, MSD meteorologist James Ngoma said the country was only likely to experience light showers and not torrential rains such as those seen in neighbouring South Africa — which triggered flooding that killed about 400 people.
“There has been erroneous claims on social media platforms which said some areas would receive heavy rain on Thursday this week. These are not official forecasts for the nation.
“We would like to assure the nation that there is no cause for alarm and nothing is coming in from the Indian Ocean to affect Zimbabwe like that as of this week.
“For the rest of this week, we are only expecting light rains because of moisture that was drifting across the country,” Ngoma said.
“Most of the current rains are just passing through. These erratic rains just give us localised downpours that are normal this time of the year and are no cause for concerns,” he added.
This comes after devastating floods in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province last week left a trail of destruction — killing about 400 people and displacing tens of thousands others.
The floods came as South Africa was beginning to find its feet after last July’s deadly riots.
Many homes, businesses, roads and bridges, as well as vital electricity and water infrastructure were badly affected by the deluge of rain.
So bad were the floods, that operations at the key port of Durban — which services the entire region — were temporarily suspended.
Parts of the crucial N3 highway which connects Durban to the economic heartland of Gauteng, and also links South Africa with land-locked countries such as Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana, were also blocked.