The South African Weather Service has issued a warning for thunderstorms accompanied by hail and strong gale force winds in parts of KwaZulu-Natal. These weather conditions are expected to start late on Wednesday afternoon and continue into the evening.
Forecaster Wiseman Dlamini says areas in the southern parts of the province may be affected.
“We do have some severe thunderstorm activity over Ixopo, Umzimkhulu, Harding as well as some parts of Richmond currently. These storms are accompanied by a possibility of hail as well as strong winds. We are also expecting these storms to remain for the rest of the afternoon to the evening today (Wednesday).”
Warning:18/12/2019 13h00 TO:18/12/2019 22h00 Severe Thunderstorms- observed over Ixopo, uMzimkhulu and Harding Municipalities, moving towards uMzumbe, Paddock, Margate(KZN) with possibility of hail and strong winds.
— SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) December 18, 2019
The KwaZulu-Natal Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Department has put disaster management teams on alert following the warnings. MEC Sipho Hlomuka has urged residents to take note of the weather warnings.
“The weather report indicates that these thunderstorms are expected in midday going into the evening. We have placed disaster management teams all over these areas that they must be on high alert so that they can provide assistance to our people across the province especially those parts that I’ve already mentioned. We are also appealing to the residents to pay attention to the weather patterns.”
