LILONGWE, March 8 (Xinhua) -- The Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services (DCCMS) of Malawi has warned that the country's southern region could experience a tropical cyclone by Sunday, following the development of a tropical storm in the Mozambique Channel.
The department issued the warning in a statement Thursday, saying once the weather system develops, "it is expected to continue to intensify and evolve into a moderate tropical storm, potentially escalating into a tropical cyclone."
Since the storm has yet to develop, its path is not yet known, but there is a 60 percent chance that it will reach or near southern Malawi, it predicted.
According to the statement, the country will continue to receive heavy rains and occasional thunderstorms, increasing the risk of sporadic flash flooding in low-lying and flood-prone areas due to the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone, which continues to oscillate over Malawi.
Meanwhile, heavy rains have been persistent in the northern and lakeshore areas of Malawi, and the country's Department of Water Resources warned the public Thursday that most major rivers in these areas are expected to continue experiencing high water levels between March 7 and 14 and likely cause flooding.
Incidentally, between March 5 and 6, continuous heavy rains caused flash floods in Malawi's lakeshore district of Nkhotakota, killing seven people, including two children under the age of 5, and affecting 14,800 people, of whom nearly 10,000 were displaced by Thursday.
In March 2023, Tropical Cyclone Freddy, which also originated in the Mozambique Channel, caused record devastation in Malawi, affecting more than 15 districts and cities, most of them in southern Malawi. Freddy left 679 confirmed dead and 537 missing, and affected more than 2.2 million people with over 2,000 injuries. ■
