Online Reporter
B-Metro Reporter
GRAB your buckets, your gumboots and maybe even your neighbour’s wheelbarrow. The sky is about to switch off the lights and drum louder than your uncle at a wedding. The Meteorological Services Department has sounded the alarm that a big, angry cloud is marching into Zimbabwe from Botswana, dragging thunder, lightning and heavy rains along with it.
From Wednesday, 5 November to Friday, 7 November, the heavens will be taking no prisoners. Bulawayo Metropolitan, Matabeleland North and South, Midlands, Masvingo, Manicaland, Harare and all those Mashonaland corners are on the receiving end of showers expected to go above 50mm. That is not your “two-minute drizzle while you chat outside the tuckshop.” That is proper rain. The kind that washes away sins, wigs and badly placed tissue roofs.
Authorities are saying watch out for flash floods in places that already get tricky after just one cloud sneezes. River basins, wetlands and low-lying areas could quickly turn into surprise swimming pools. If you stay near a river, a stream, or that suspicious marsh that everyone pretends is “just damp grassland,” please behave.
Lightning will also be out there showing off. So, if you were planning a “quick selfie” during the storm for content, stop it now. Officials are begging people not to stand under trees or tall poles. That tree is not your friend. That pole is not your uncle. When the sky starts flashing, go inside a house, shop or even a chicken run if it has a proper roof.
Strong winds are part of the package too. Rooftops could lift. Loose zinc sheets could start flying like they want to relocate to Gwanda. So, mend what you can before the storm hits. Tie down what you love. Secure the goats. Secure the laundry. Secure your weave.
And please, this is not the time to be a hero with machinery in open fields. Tractors and storms are not best friends. Also avoid using taps or showers during lightning. Cleanliness is next to godliness, yes, but survival is slightly more important.
The MSD says follow updates from official platforms (@MSDZIM or +263 778 125 911). Not your aunt on WhatsApp. Not a Facebook prophet. The real weather team.
The sky means business. Respect it. Stay safe. Keep dry.
