Cooler weather expected after Gauteng storms cause flooding

There is a calmer weather forecast for this weekend, with cooler conditions expected after a series of severe thunderstorms the past couple of days across Gauteng, which has seen some floods in Centurion low-lying bridges.

The South African Weather Service (Saws) has issued a yellow level 2 warning for severe thunderstorms causing heavy downpours, large amounts of small hail, strong damaging winds, and excessive lightning.

These will result in flooding of susceptible settlements, roads, and low-lying areas; damage to properties; as well as disruptions to municipal services are expected over Gauteng, eastern parts of the North West and Free State, parts of Mpumalanga, the Western Bushveld of Limpopo, and the northern parts of Kwa-Zulu Natal for Wednesday.

CoT warns motorists

On Tuesday, the City of Tshwane (CoT) urged motorists to find alternative routes after the subway bridge on Nellmapius Road, corner End Street and John Vorster Avenue and West Street low water bridge, was left flooded following a storm.

Spokesperson Lindela Mashigo apologised for the inconvenience caused by the power supply interruptions following the recent severe thunderstorms that caused great damage across most parts of Tshwane.

“The city’s technicians have been dispatched to various regions to attend to outages plaguing the municipality. As of Tuesday morning, technicians have been overstretched due to the size of the network that they cover and the number of outages experienced over the past few hours, resulting in a massive restoration backlog,” he said.

ALSO READ: Weather: Disruptive rain with flooding risk in KwaZulu-Natal and fire danger

Mashingo said the resultant backlog was exacerbated by the need to prioritise the safety of our technicians, who are not allowed to work on the network in wet and rainy conditions.

“The city is committed to accelerating power restoration to frustrated customers and appeals for patience while technicians strive to reduce the backlog. Residents will be kept abreast of developments,” he said.

Saws forecaster Wayne Venter said weather conditions would improve significantly by Thursday for the eastern part of the country with the first of the summer season’s systems to bring tropical moisture and proper rainfall.

Weather will improve by Thursday

“That will be our first tropical influence so far this year. We are expecting a decent amount of rain from Thursday up until Tuesday over KwaZulu Natal, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, eastern North West, eastern Free State, and Limpopo,” he said.

Venter said the rainfall would also bring about cooler conditions and see temperatures cool down.

“However, the central parts of the Free State, Northern Cape, and western sides of North West won’t be impacted by the tropical influence that was going to bring the proper rainfall. They will get isolated thunderstorms, but not enough or as much as the eastern side of the country and will have to wait a little longer for the rain,” he added.

NOW READ: Level 2 warning: Severe thunderstorms and heavy rain in six provinces