The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said villagers who had been evacuated to higher ground as the region anticipated Cyclone Chalane are now returning home.

OCHA released a statement yesterday that stated that villagers have started to go back to their homes after the cyclone dissipated and moved towards Botswana. Said OCHA in a statement:

The Chalane weather system reached Zimbabwe in the evening of 30 December as a tropical depression, with heavy rains and bursts of strong winds in Chimanimani East in Manicaland Province, with some roofs of houses blown off, as well electricity and cellular network disruptions.

Initial reports indicate that the eye of the storm passed over Cashel Valley to the north of Chimanimani. Minor damage has been reported to a few institutions, including Chimanimani hospital, Ndima school and a local church.

More than 600 people arrived in evacuation centres in Chimanimani district, many of whom have reportedly already begun to return home, while more than 100 refugee families in the Tongogara Refugee Camp in Chipinge district temporarily moved to higher ground.

Some 153 people who were living in temporary shelters following their displacement by Cyclone Idai (in March 2019) were pre-emptively evacuated ahead of Chalane’s arrival: 97 are housed at Mutambara High School while 56 are housed at St. Patrick’s.

Seventeen people with disabilities were identified among the internally displaced in Mutambara and St. Patrick’s and measures are being taken to provide them appropriate safety and support.

Assessments are ongoing to assess the extent of the damages. Humanitarian partners are supporting through deployment of supplies that were pre-positioned and available in the affected districts.