Tropical Cyclone Freddy has killed 2 people and blown off several roofs in Chimanimani and Chipinge in Manicaland province.
The country’s Metrological Services Departments (MSD) has said Cyclone Freddy has weakened considerably and was a moderate tropical storm when it reached Mozambique on Friday, as well as Chimanimani and Chipinge in Zimbabwe.
In Zimbabwe, the two districts lost seven cattle, while two people were confirmed dead after being struck by lightning.
Some schools in both districts had their roofs blown off on Friday due to incessant rains and heavy winds.
Department of Civil Protection (DCP) deputy director in charge of response and operations, Farai Hokonya yesterday confirmed that Cyclone Freddy had killed 2 people in Manicaland. He told NewsDay:
We have received reports in Chimanimani, and I know there is something also in Chipinge. I’m still trying to get hold of those in Chipinge to verify the issue. We don’t have the names of the deceased, we only recorded the deaths. It’s unfortunate I’m on the highway driving.
MSD head of forecast, James Ngoma said the department was closely monitoring the situation adding that the public should not panic. He is cited as saying:
Our warning category was on level one, which is not a panic warning. When we get to level eight and nine that’s when people can have that panic mode. Basically what I’m saying is that we are very safe.
The areas that we had mentioned that were going to be affected by the cyclone were the southeastern parts of the country, Chipinge, Chimanimani, Chiredzi, Mwenezi, Beitbridge, Bikita, Zaka and Buhera.
We never mentioned Harare, so people who are waiting for the cyclone to affect Harare, honestly we don’t know where they are getting that information from. We are closely monitoring the situation. The south-eastern parts today (yesterday) received 30mm of rain, and a few roofs have been blown off in Chipinge and Chimanimani.
Last week, the government was forced to close schools in areas that were likely to be affected by the Cyclone to avoid loss of lives.
In neighbouring Mozambique, Cyclone Freddy hit the country on February 24 with winds that reached 113 kilometres per hour after making landfall in the eastern city of Vilankulo where it caused the destruction of infrastructure.
In Madagascar, seven people died due to the cyclone.
A map by Zoom Earth which is tracking Cyclone Freddy shows that the storm entered eastern Zimbabwe and returned to Mozambique.
More Pindula News