Body of missing teen recovered from Kliptown river

The Johannesburg Emergency Services has recovered the body of an 18-year-old teen who went missing after falling into the Klipvalley River in Soweto this week.

The incident happened after heavy rainfall which resulted in flooding in several parts of Gauteng, accompanied by a sudden hailstorm that damaged infrastructure and vehicles.

Body recovered

According to spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi, the teen slipped and fell into the overflowing river on Tuesday.

His body was recovered on Wednesday morning.

“The body of the 18-year-old boy who went missing when he slipped and fell into Klipvalley River yesterday has been recovered by the aquatic rescue unit in Johannesburg EMS together with the South African Police Service water wing,” said Mulaudzi.

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“The body will be handed over to the Saps for further investigations. We just want to plead with our residents to continue to look after young kids to stay away from river streams since now that the water levels are higher so that we can be able to prevent incidences like these.”

Extreme weather

The country is still reeling from the severe thunderstorms and hailstorm that took the country by surprise on Monday, with Midrand severely affected.

The Lekwa local municipality in Mpumalanga also witnessed a tornado.

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According to the South African Weather Service (SAWS), weather extremes will continue to occur from time to time during the summer season as much as drier conditions are expected.

Its multi-model rainfall forecast indicates above-normal rainfall for the north-east of the country during Nov-Dec-Jan (NDJ), Dec-Jan-Feb (DJF) and Jan-Feb-Mar (JFM), with below normal rainfall predicted for the central and south-western parts of the country.

Predictions still favour above-normal rainfall conditions over the north-eastern parts of the country, even with an El Niño in place.

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“Caution is advised at this point as the El Niño effect might still manifest its influence in the next few months and change the outlook of the rainfall forecast for mid- and late-summer. Minimum and maximum temperatures are expected to be mostly above-normal countrywide for the forecast period.”