City of Tshwane says it has sent emergency services to several parts of the north of Pretoria after a severe hail storm damaged houses, leaving residents in Temba, Stinkwater, New Eersterust and Soshanguve stranded. The emergency services are assessing the situation and providing help where needed.
City of Tshwane MMC for Human Settlement Mandla Nkomo says, “As you probably know that there has been an issue with the storm water drainage system in the northern parts of the city, especially in Hammanskraal. We have engaged with the emergency services first to send the disaster management team to assess and assist where possible.”
The South African Weather Service has warned of severe thunderstorms and hail over the weekend in parts of the Free State, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal. Heavy falls in most of the country’s interior may result in flash floods, hailstorms and strong winds. Senior forecaster, Jacqueline Modika cautioned the public to be careful.
“We also have a watch out for severe thunderstorms that is expected over the eastern interior. This would include the western part of the Limpopo Province, the eastern parts of the North West Province, the northern parts of the Free State and the western parts of Mpumalanga. So we just want the public to be aware of the risk today with severe thunderstorms in these areas. For tomorrow, still a wide area of showers and thunder showers expected over most parts of the country – except the western interior of the Northern Cape,” says Modika.
The weather service has also cautioned drivers in some areas of KwaZulu-Natal. Wiseman Dlamini from the weather service says drivers must drive carefully as roads might be slippery.
“We are expecting the rain to continue over KZN. There is 80% of showers and thundershowers and there is already thundershowers in some part of Amajuba district and uThukela and this rain will continue right through the evening.”
“The conditions look like it is going to be improving tomorrow where the chances of rain are dropping to 30%. There will be a lot of water on the road and this could cause the possibility of flooding in our urban areas and people who will be driving might be at risk of slippery roads and bad and poor visibility,” adds Dlamini.
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Media release: Stormy weather expected for parts of South Africa 12/13 October 2018. pic.twitter.com/y7xwhHWJYp
— SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) October 12, 2018
