Bad weather in Gauteng ‘set to change today’

The gloomy and chilly weather putting a damper on the start of the festive season is expected to clear up, with the sun set to make an appearance today, “if we are lucky”.

This comes after the South African Weather Service had issued several inclement weather warnings in recent days and heavy rain had wreaked havoc in various parts of the country.

Various areas in the capital city of Tshwane, including Mamelodi, Centurion, Bronkhorstspruit and Soshanguve, suffered severe damage when the Hennops River burst its banks on Monday.

Guests and staff members at Centurion Lake Hotel were evacuated and airlifted by military helicopters to safety after its reception area was flooded following a deluge.

On the same day, a man’s body was reportedly recovered from a car that was swept off a low-level bridge and into the Crocodile River, close to Hartbeesport Dam.

Because of the havoc, the weather service yesterday issued multiple warnings about localised flooding.

However, the weather service yesterday told The Citizen it was not issuing any more warnings for the coming days.

In fact, weather forecaster Venetia Phakula said not much rain was forecast for the rest of the week and that “if we are lucky”, the sun would come out today.

Phakula said the rain expected today included isolated thundershowers and would affect the eastern parts of the country, including Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape.

However, she added that “it will not be much rain and the chance of rain is as low as 30%”. She said the same conditions were likely to occur tomorrow and on Friday.

She said the forecast for the weekend indicated “no rain in Gauteng”.

However, rain was expected in the coastal parts of the country and some parts in the east, including the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and the highveld in Mpumalanga.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.