The South African Weather Service says it does not expect more heavy rains this week. Several parts of the country were flooded last week after continuous rain.
The Acting Executive of Weather and Climate Services at the Weather Service, Tshepo Ngobeni, says heavy rain for this time of the year is normal.
“It’s not something out of the norm, like I said we have El Nino and the summer season. But again we have the effect of climate change, because climate change says we will have frequent severe weather systems; and we’ve seen over the years like flooding and severe thunderstorms are occurring frequently. So this is not something that is exceptional.”
Last week several areas in the country experienced flooding.
“Our rainfall caused a lot of damage. In Venda, between 13 and 16 February, they encountered about 350mm of rain. Also in Thohoyandou, I remember the mall was flooded. They also experienced 240mm rain in three days. That system has moved to the east and left the whole of South Africa.”
Ngobeni says we have to accept that we are in an El Nino season that produces a lot of rain, and we can also expect summer rainfall. He says the next week will mostly be clear weather, with a few thundershowers in the afternoons.
In Gauteng, heavy rains were seen over Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane, some parts of Mpumalanga. This follows the expected rain leading to localised flooding.
Heavy rains have seen some parts of the country overflowing. This after several provinces in the country experiencing flooding during last week’s drizzles in certain areas.
