Gauteng residents warned to brace for more severe weather

As the Gauteng province deals with the aftermath of persistent rain, the South African Weather Service (Saws) has warned residents to brace for even more severe thunderstorms.

Several areas were lashed by heavy downpours last week with Kliptown, Protea South, Nancefield Hostel and Alexandra the hardest hit.

The devastating rain left a trail of destruction, damaging electricity infrastructure, flooding homes and informal settlements.

Weather warning

Saws has issued an Orange level 5 warning with severe thunderstorms in Gauteng on 12 December 2022 from 2pm – 11:59pm.

“Orange level 5 warning for severe thunderstorm with possible damage or loss of infrastructure, settlement (formal and informal), damage on property and vehicles, roads flooding resulting in some closure of some bridges and roads are expected over the central parts of the Western Cape, southern Gauteng, central and north-eastern parts of Free State.”

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Emergency services

Meanwhile, Johannesburg Emergency Services spokesperson Nana Radebe said there has been no other major incidents that have been reported.

“We are, however, still on high alert and will continue to be in contact with the South African Weather Services to provide any flooding alerts and also heading out to areas to check on the water levels and any other areas that are prone to flooding.”

Human settlements

Earlier, the Department of Human Settlements visited some of the areas affected by flooding in Soweto.

The delegation included Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, Gauteng Human Settlements MEC Lebogang Maile and MMC Mlungisi Mabaso.

Kubayi said the three spheres of government will assist victims and all those affected by the recent floods in Soweto.

“We know it is that time of the rainy season, we now have high alerts across the country. We are here in Gauteng, specifically in Soweto. We are doing activation of our interventions, putting together teams that are going to be able to focus in terms of the assessment of the houses across the City to tell us how many have been affected,” she said.

Meanwhile, reports indicate that the bridge along Hendrik Potgieter Road near Raceworx KTM, in Roodepoort, has shown signs of road fracture.

“Update: Provincial Roads Dept has decided to close the road over the bridge/storm water at KTM whilst engineers do structural assessments. Please use alternate routes till further notice,” SCP Security tweeted.

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