Mozambique: New weather forecasting centre for at-risk regions

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Mozambique: New weather forecasting centre for at-risk regions

1:15 CAT | 13 Feb 2020

Beira after Idai. [File photo: Lusa]

The National Institute of Meteorology (INAM) of Mozambique is to install a regional centre for weather analysis and forecasting in the city of Beira, the central region of the country, hit by cyclone Idai one year ago, the institution said.

The process marks the start of the decentralisation process of these services and aims to anticipate more accurately adverse conditions that cyclically affect the area, said the deputy director of INAM, Mussa Mustafa, quoted by the Mozambique Information Agency (AIM).

The station will be operational within two years and will also be able to provide faster alerts to communities that may be affected.

Currently, all INAM’s activity is carried out from Maputo and disseminated to the rest of the country, including daily weather forecasts for 29 districts, 11 of which are in the central region.

The new centre in Beira will improve monitoring of the Indian Ocean and the intertropical convergence zone, the source of many of the rains and low pressures – such as cyclones – that cyclically affect the central provinces of Sofala, Zambézia, Manica and Tete.

The unit will provide information for civil aviation

The current rainy season in Mozambique, from October to April, has killed 54 people and affected about 65,000, many with flooded homes, according to data from the National Institute of Disaster Management (INGC).

The 2018/2019 rainy season was one of the most severe in memory: 714 people died, including 648 victims of two cyclones (Idai and Kenneth) that hit Mozambique.

Source: Lusa