New cyclone in Indian Ocean

More rain is expected over much of Southern Africa in the next few days, but it is likely to taper off towards the end of next week, a researcher from the Climatology Research Group at
the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg told IRIN on Friday.

She said that a new cyclone, Felicia, was currently in the Indian Ocean around Madagascar and Mauritius, but might not hit the Mozambican coast as cyclone Eline did this week with devastating consequences. If Felicia does move towards Mozambique, it was "likely to weaken down quite a bit, not
resulting in severe rain in southern Africa".

The researcher said that contrary to the current popular perception that the region is experiencing unusually heavy rainfall, these are "pretty much normal weather patterns for this time of year".

The difference, she said, was the "sequencing", with storm fronts following one after the other resulting in "extreme rainfall" over large parts of the region. She added that, according to the research group, the recent torrential rains "had nothing to do with changing global weather patterns".

Heavy rains and flooding across most parts of Southern Africa in recent weeks have caused millions of dollars worth of damage to infrastructure and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.