By Kefiloe Kajane
The Lesotho Metrological Services (LMS) says Lesotho will experience heavy rains in the next five days, but emphasized the weather is not a result of tropical cyclone Eloise.
Tropical Cyclone Eloise is a tropical cyclone that is currently inland over Zimbabwe, and is the strongest cyclone to impact the country of Mozambique since Cyclone Kenneth in 2019.
The cyclone made a landfall in Mozambique’s central province of Sofala on Saturday and weakened to a tropical storm as it moved inland to dump rain on Zimbabwe, eSwatini, South Africa and Botswana.
Six people were killed in Mozambique, while the number of displaced people rose to more than 8,000. Homes, crops and infrastructure were also damaged, flooded or destroyed. The death toll from flooding in eSwatini stands at two, while three people were reported killed in Zimbabwe and one in Madagascar. Ongoing, albeit lighter, rainfall, threatened further floods.
The Eloise weather system is passing over Botswana after brining heavy rains to central Mozambique, south0eastern Zimbabwe and northern South Africa. It is expected to dissipate on Tuesday or Wednesday.
According to LMS communications officer Letsatsi Lekhooa, the rains that will follow in the next few days are not a result of the cyclone, and are not expected to be as bad as the other countries in its path.
“Even though the rains are expected to only last five days, the rains are expected to continue until March.
“The cyclone is expected to end or die in Botswana where it will start what is called ‘low pressure’ which usually brings the moisture from Congos. Basically, this is what we expect during summer, that the moisture will come from Congo and then we could have some rainfalls like we are going to have these coming five days.”
