More heavy rain expected tomorrow |27 November 2019
Satellite image for November 26, 2019
More heavy and prolonged rain is expected to sweep across the country tomorrow until Saturday, meteorologists have said.
It rained heavily yesterday and according to Vincent Amelie, chief executive of the Seychelles Meteorological Authority, the three main islands – Mahé, Praslin and La Digue – were all battered by heavy and prolonged rain.
Although he could not give the exact amount of rain that fell yesterday as the reading is collected every 24 hours (at 7am this morning), Mr Amelie said from his experience “the amount of rain that fell yesterday is almost equivalent to half the amount that is normally recorded for the whole month of November”.
Mr Amelie also explained that “although we are already in the rainy season, it is not normal to experience such heavy rains at this time of the year.”
The heavy rains, he added, could be a result of a weather phenomenon known as a positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), which occurs when the sea surface temperature of the western part of the Indian Ocean becomes significantly warmer than the eastern part.
“This weather phenomenon helps the rapid formation of clouds which increases the risk of excess rainfall,” said Mr Amelie.
He noted that the weather condition will be much better today (Wednesday) and we will have a clearer picture, but it will worsen as from tomorrow (Thursday) until Saturday.
“Due to the low pressure system and clouds forming right over us instead of in the east, we expect to receive more heavy rains. Some people have been calling our office to enquire about whether there will be a storm or depression. What I can say is it will neither be a storm nor a depression, but it will have the characteristics,” explained Mr Amelie.
He added that the condition will get better as from next week with the rain easing.
Yesterday’s heavy rains flooded roads and stone walls were washed away.
On La Digue, there was severe flooding in La Passe and the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development has said that only students who have exams should report to school while others are being encouraged to stay at home.
Gerard Govinden