Malawians told to brace for five cyclones

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The Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services has warned that the country is at risk of experiencing over five cyclones this rainy season.

This is according to the Department’s Chief of Meteorological Services, Charles Vanya who told the local media that there are expectations that these five cyclones will emanate from the Indian Ocean.

However, Vanya pointed out that though Malawi is on the list of countries to be affected by cyclones that will originate from the Indian Ocean, there are also possibilities that not all of the cyclones will reach Malawi.

“In terms of cyclones, the forecast is showing that about five or six cyclones will develop in Indian Ocean and will have impact in Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi.

“From January up to March there are high chances that most of the cyclones that will happen in Indian Ocean will come and affect land, so those are the ones that can have a possibility of causing danger to Malawi,” said Vanya.

Meanwhile,the department says
in the next two weeks, most parts of the country will experience locally heavy rains which will be associated with possible damaging winds, lightning and thunder due to the influence of a convergence of south easterly and easterly air masses.

The department has since warned the general public that thunderstorms are often associated with lightning and possible damaging winds, therefore, people should always stay in a safer and closed shelter whenever a thunderstorm is within vicinity until it dissipates.

From April 24 to 28 this year, the country experienced cyclone Jasmine which run but did not make direct landfall and it had the shortest distance at about 498 km west of Nsanje in Malawi’s Southern Region.

Between January and March, the country experienced most severe cyclones, Ana and Gombe, which caused heavy flooding in a number of districts, especially in the Southern Region due to heavy rainfall and strong winds, thereby claiming lives and leaving others homeless.

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