{"id":11041,"date":"2025-11-17T14:54:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T14:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/?p=11041"},"modified":"2025-11-17T14:54:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T14:54:25","slug":"msd-issues-urgent-warning-as-heavy-rains-and-thunderstorms-threaten-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/?p=11041","title":{"rendered":"MSD Issues Urgent Warning as Heavy Rains and Thunderstorms Threaten Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Zim GBC News | Environmental Services<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>BULAWAYO \u2014 The Meteorological Services Department (MSD) has issued a severe weather alert, forecasting heavy rainfall exceeding 80 millimetres, accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning, and strong winds across multiple provinces from today until Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The warning covers a significant portion of the country, including Matabeleland North and South, Bulawayo Metropolitan, southern parts of Midlands, Masvingo, Manicaland, Harare Metropolitan, and Mashonaland East provinces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In an official statement, the MSD urged the public to exercise extreme caution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWatch out for heavy rainfall and flash flooding in flood-prone areas, river basins and wetlands in the affected provinces,\u201d the department cautioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The weather service specifically highlighted the dangers of lightning and strong winds, which may lead to fallen trees, damaged property, and power disruptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe public should mend rooftops, secure loose items, ensure animals are safe and trim loose hanging branches,\u201d the MSD advised, adding crucial guidance for personal safety:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSeconds before a storm when lightning flashes, the public should go inside a house\/building and must not stand under trees or next to a tall pole\/object.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Explaining the meteorological conditions, the department stated:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cA thick cloud system is expected to move in from Botswana towards the western borders of the country, at the same time receiving cool moist air from the southeast. The combination of these two systems is expected to bring heavy rainfall exceeding 80mm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The public is strongly advised to follow directives from the Civil Protection Unit (CPU) and avoid flooded areas, open vehicles, and the use of electrical appliances during storms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Follow Zim GBC News on Social Media:<br>\u00b7 X (Twitter): @ZimGbc<br>\u00b7Instagram: @ZimGBCNews<br>\u00b7TikTok: @ZimGBCNews_01<br>\u00b7Facebook: Zim GBC News<br>\u00b7YouTube: Zim GBC News<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Get real-time alerts on WhatsApp:<br>+263 773 820 323<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For in-depth coverage, visit our website: www.zimgbcnews.co.zw<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Zim GBC News | Global News From An African Perspective\u00a92025<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Zim GBC News | Environmental Services BULAWAYO \u2014 The Meteorological Services Department (MSD) has issued a severe weather alert, forecasting heavy rainfall exceeding 80 millimetres, accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning, and&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11041"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11043,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11041\/revisions\/11043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}