Say adios to Dineo damage

If you’re getting rained on today, you can’t say it’s Dineo’s fault. Cyclone Dineo, which became a tropical depression when it made landfall last Wednesday, does not exist any more.

The South African Weather Service has confirmed that the system dissipated in Namibia after four days of destruction in some parts of southern Africa.

More than 20 000 homes were destroyed in Mozambique, with millions of rands in damage, as tropical storm Dineo hit.

Seven people were killed and 14 seriously injured in Mozambique following the storm’s arrival on the eastern coast earlier last week, according to Mozambique government sources.

Dineo affected much of Mozambique and Zimbabwe, flooding large areas in both countries and leaving more than 100 000 homeless in the former. It also caused damage in Botswana.

In SA, the forecaster reported isolated areas in Limpopo and Mpumalanga being affected by the storm, including a few camp sites in the Kruger National Park that were flooded. At least 20 houses were destroyed. But numbers alone don’t reflect the true damage of a natural disaster.

The weather service said any rain experienced today is not related to Dineo but due to a summer system that is moving over the country.

The list of storm names in rotation for the 2016-17 cyclone season in the southwest Indian Ocean region, as per the World Meteorological Organisation website, are: Abela, Bransby, Carlos, Dineo, Enawo, Fernando, Gabekile, Herold, Irondro, Jeruto, Kundai, Lisebo, Michel, Nousra, Olivier, Pokera, Quincy, Rebaone, Salama, Tristan, Ursula, Violet, Wilson, Xila, Yekela and Zaina.

Hopefully, SA won’t need to use all those names by December. – Caxton News Service