If you were having coffee with me, I would be pleased you managed to make it, it has been raining buckets on account of us having had an intense tropical cyclone in our backyard.
It has been a rather wet weekend but we have been rather lucky spared even, compared to the more eastern parts of the country where there has been death and destruction and more so in our neighbouring country Mozambique which bore the full brunt of cyclone Idai when it made landfall late on Thursday night.
If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you it’s very difficult to focus on much of anything else, when there’s tropical cyclone looming, even now when it has been downgraded to a tropical depression yet still churning out water like a sponge being squeezed.
Earlier during the week doctors had taken to staging a picket demonstration to raise awareness on the state of our public health institutions which are shockingly in need of essential supplies, from basic drugs to medical paraphernalia.
According to the minister of health “The Government has been touched by the emotional presentation by senior doctors on the state of affairs in its public health institutions and will continue exploring available options to mitigate the challenges” and blamed sanctions imposed by the United States as part of the reason they were operating under tough conditions.
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that cyclone Idai has been named as the deadliest weather disaster of 2019. Starting as a tropical depression in first week of March, that moved inland and caused flooding and devastation in Malawi, Mozambique it returned back into the Mozambique Channel then becoming a full blown intense tropical cyclone when it reached the warm water of the Indian ocean and turned back in-land to head for the port of city of Beira; Mozambique as a category three tropical cyclone.
While I was watching the news for updates on the Cyclone I saw reports of the Christchurch shootings, its chilling to find people have such hate, I keep asking myself why cant we get along, but its easy judge when you are safe at home and sitting behind a computer watching the world through the internet.
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that maybe its because we are in landlocked country and we underestimate cyclones but the country’s preparedness and emergency response system really needs an upgrade; for the past week (if not longer) people have known of the coming cyclone, yet people in high risk areas along the cyclone’s projected path had not been evacuated or at least given awareness of what to do, where to go in case of emergency or even emergency contact numbers.
And where was the president? The President left for an official state visit to Abu Dhabi the day before the cyclone was set hit Zim. I am sure his direct and personal presence would not have been required but if I was a president and my country had a storm headed towards it, I would have to ask anywhere else I was needed to either excuse or postpone seeing as there was a potential crisis looming.
He has since cancelled his visit short and will be heading back home shortly, I wouldn’t know how much such a trip costs but I think it the money used could have gone a long way to provide disaster relief which now has to be crow funded, asking the ordinary citizens to help with what they can.
Of course, some will say now is not the time to fixate on the things that could have been done different or better, for now we survive, help where we can and tomorrow we rebuild.
If you were having coffee I would ask you if you know how cyclones and hurricanes get their names, if you don’t, then you might find my last post to be of interest, Cyclones, Hurricanes and Typhoons
There’s a cyclone in my backyard, I am safe but my thoughts are with those in need.
**For details on how you can help see this post Chronicles of Cyclones
~B
PS how come it seems people pay more attention to a storm tracking its path constantly when it is in the ocean but not as much after it makes landfall, right now I am not exactly sure where Ex-Idai is or where to find it on a map, is it even still there, has it finally dissipated because the rain seems to have stopped… for now.
Becoming The Muse 
I read a lot about Idai. I’m glad you weren’t as effected as some in your country. It does seem odd that a landlocked country has to worry about cyclones, but I know that they can still pack a punch long after landfall, having seen huge damage by hurricanes many hundreds of miles inland.
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We can go for years without experiencing cyclones and hurricanes but the ones that reach us are usually the strong violent storms leaving devastation in their wake.
Even now the system has not entirely dissipated
~B
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Whoa – Beaton! Don’t you all have enough challenges going that you have to add a cyclone to the mix. . . ? Wow. Stay safe brother. Not quite an hour’s drive from us, a small town on a normally quiet river is mucking out from the worst flood in memory but that was just from rain. I think cyclones are outlawed here or something. . .
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We hardly ever get cyclones here, I think the last one that reached us was like two years ago and was on the mild side, this one was a bit more intense, infact this one reached unprecented wind speeds which like about four in recorded history ever did… right now trying to wrap my head around how we end up with a death toll larger than in the country where the cyclone actually made landfall, next to known existent response mechanisms
~B
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You are right when all is said and done or has happened all that is left is to rebuild.
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we learn an we rebuild
~B
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Never did I ever think a landlocked country would be hit with a cyclone. Glad to know that you are safe. Btw, what’s the difference between a cyclone and a hurricane?
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We have experienced a few in the past, though its very rare.
How would you know I know such a thing hahaha anyway there is absolutely no difference between a cyclone and a hurricane, except the location, in the Atlantic ocean they call them hurricanes, in the northwest Pacific they call them typhoons and in the indian ocean, we call them cyclones ….
then there’s tornadoes and those are a different breed all-together they occur on land (whereas cyclones occur at sea) more wind and less rain.
~B
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I know tornados are circular. We called them whirlwinds when I was young. So the name changes accordingly. Thanks for the info.
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hahaha whirlwinds are like tiny baby tornadoes.
~B
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Hi B, I’ve seen a few reports about the flooding in Mozambique: just awful 😦
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Yeah and because of the intensity of the storm there was a blackout in both electricity and communications and the full extent of damage hasnt even been seen, I think its only the other day that a team managed to set up some sort of network for communications; its feared the casualty list could be in the 1000s
~B
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In the thousands?! That’s horrible!
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Many times I am afraid to comment on a post because I feel I might say the wrong thing.
I saw the title of this article and before I got down to reading it, I looked at the images (many times I call them pictures) and thought those are images of coloured coffee that had just been stirred. Then after reading I realized it was a storm and I changed my mind about commenting because I was afraid it would be offensive.
I am sorry for the storm and it is my prayer that everyone recovers soon.
If I was having coffee with you, I would tell you that your blog is very interesting. I would not miss a post.
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Thank you for dropping by an I am ever so glad you find my blog interesting, its one of my aims to be both informative yet entertaining which why I try to be as “homely” as possible.
If there’s one thing I have learnt through blogging its that you can never predict what a person who reads your blog will think about what you have written, sometimes they come to the most unexpected conclusions, and its only through the comments that I can get a feel for what someone thinks of my posts.
Thank you for the prayers an wishes its been as if there’s been a dark cloud around but in times like this the beauty and strength in our humanity comes through and shines as a light as people work together regardless of differences to rebuild.
~B
PS My blog is not examination so the are no right or wrong responses, so here you can never say a wrong thing and actually I had a lighter moment with myself as I wrote the title of this article, imagine having a cup of coffee with a Cyclone as a guest an you can have a conversation with it asking it all sorts of questions like why are you so furious why do you spin round and round like that and doest it make you dizzy, but most of all whats with the destruction are you punishing people for being bad… and now I shall save this for the intro of a future post
and yes the picture or image does look like a stirred cup of coloured coffee maybe thats how someone ended up with the phrase a storm in a tea cup
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Thank you so much. Your blog speaks tons and I get to know about a lot of things that are not ever in the news. Do not stop.
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Thank you.. and the encouragement is appreciated these blogging things really are a labour of love, you write even though you never know if it will mean anything to anyone else other than yourself
♥♥
~B
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Yes, you are right about that one.
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Beaton, I am sorry to hear of so much turmoil! Thank you for sharing about what is going on in your area. I found the maps very informative. We go through this in Florida during hurricane season. Our area was relieved last year that we did not get a direct hit, but of course, another area west of us did. In 2016 and 2017, though, we were on lockdown for a few days with approaching storms. I have been blessed not to have damage to my home, though. Be blessed, and have a great week!
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we are so far inland that by the time cyclones reach us they will usually have dissipated but some scary few can bring on the fury and this one was one of those freak ones that happen once in a lifetime, but met department hinted at the climate change phenomena being responsible and as the frequency of cyclonic effect increases so too will their intensity and looks like we really need to be proactive in our tracking of weather conditions
~B
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