Tropical cyclone Dineo leaves trail of destruction in M’bique

TROPICAL cyclone Dineo left a trail of destruction in its path yesterday as it hit the northern coast of Mozambique‚ before making its way to Maputo and parts of South Africa.

“People and businesses in the area around us will have suffered a lot of damage,” Brian Jefferies, of Jeff’s Palm Resort in Praia de Jangamo‚ In- hambane province, where the storm struck yesterday afternoon, said.

Roofs had been blown off houses and businesses‚ overhead electricity and telephone cables had been damaged and trees uprooted, he said.

After 8pm, the storm had reportedly reach the country’s capital‚ with heavy rains experienced in Maputo.

The cyclone would have no effect whatsoever on the Eastern Cape, pro- vincial weather office spokesman Garth Sampson said earlier yesterday.

“Many social media platforms are saying it will hit the Eastern Cape tonight,” he said.

“We have had tons of calls from emergency services and we have had to dispel these fears.”

The SA Weather Service’s national spokeswoman, Hannelee Doubell, said: “Dineo is really living up to the notoriously fickle and unpredictable nature of such tropical systems.

“Overnight [on Tuesday], Dineo’s track began shifting to adopt a more westerly trajectory, departing from the mostly south-westerly track which dominated its movement.

“This is still a formidable storm system which has the potential to cause much damage to infrastructure.

“An obvious concern for communities in southern Mozambique will be heavy or torrential rain resulting in widespread flooding,” she said.

Today, Dineo is expected to migrate west, dumping heavy rain of up to 200mm on Mozambique, causing the lower reaches of the Limpopo River to flood and displace communities.

The cyclone would weaken once it was over land, Doubell said.

The World Meteorological Organisation’s Regional Specialist Meteorological Centre in Reunion was predicting heavy rain over the northern lowveld and adjacent escarpment regions of Limpopo tonight.

“The greatest impact on South African provinces will be overnight and early on Friday,” it said.

By tomorrow morning, the storm should begin dissipating.