According to the early warning advisory provided by the SADC Humanitarian Operations Centre (SHOC) the Tropical Cyclone and Heavy Rainfall Advisory Tropical Cyclone ‘Chido’ has intensified further to an Intense Tropical Cyclone (Category 4 from a scale of 1 to 5) while progressing westward over the South Western Indian Ocean basin. The system was located approximately 700Km off the coastline of Madagascar. As of 12th December 2024 at 0600 UTC, TC ‘Chido’ had recorded maximum sustained surface winds of 190Km/h with gusts of up to 240Km/h. Further analysis depicted that TC Chido was expected to directly affect Northern Madagascar, Comoros and later Mozambique.

Heavy to very heavy rainfall, strong winds, rough to very rough seas, and storm surges are expected. Other parts of the SADC region that are also expected to receive heavy rainfall associated with this system include Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. On the other hand, Angola, Botswana, DRC, Eswatini, southern parts of Tanzania, and Northern Western parts of South Africa are also expected to receive heavy rainfall due to other weather systems within the period