Cyclone Dineo's arrival sparks flood scare in Limpopo
Tropical Storm Dineo is expected to make landfall as a tropical cyclone on the Mozambican coast near Inhambane and Massinga early this evening.
Chief forecaster at the South African Weather Service, Kevin Rae, says it will be associated with very strong, damaging winds which will inevitably affect the coastline of Mozambique.
"It is also associated with torrential rain, very rough sea conditions as well as storm surge," says Rae.
Rae says there won't be any immediate impact on South Africa today.
"As the system moves inland, the latest track is expected to take it virtually due east to west, in other words moving virtually due west," says Rae.
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Rae says there will be heavy torrential rain over southern Mozambique tonight, but the weather system will affect South Africa from Thursday.
"By tomorrow and into Friday it is expected to introduce heavy rain for the eastern part of Limpopo and that would include the central and northern part of the Kruger National Park and by the early morning hours of Friday it is expected to be weakening in the Thohoyandou area," says Rae.
Rae says it is important to note that the weather system weakens as soon as the move over land.
"The main risk we are expecting for eastern Limpopo is that of flooding. We could experience 100mm to 200mm of rain per day, particularly in the night-time hours of Thursday through into Friday." says Rae.