Severe thunderstorms expected in parts of SA

The South African Weather Services (SAWS) has issued severe weather alerts for different parts of the country for Monday.

The SAWS said severe thunderstorms are expected in some parts of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN)

Weather Warning

It issued a yellow level 2 warning for the adverse weather conditions.

“Severe Thunderstorms leading to damage or loss of infrastructure, settlements (formal and informal), property, vehicles, livelihood and livestock as well as large amounts of small hail and excessive lightning across the southern region of the eastern half of the Eastern Cape as well as the southern parts of Kwa-Zulu Natal.”

ALSO READ: Vaal Dam levels drop 2% as Gauteng imposes level 2 water restrictions

The SAWS said cooler weather is also expected in Gauteng.

“Partly cloudy and warm to hot with isolated showers and thundershowers.”

Heatwave

While some parts of the country will experience wet weather conditions, the SAWS also issued a notice for heatwave conditions.

“A heatwave with persistently high temperatures is expected to continue over Matatiele local Municipality tomorrow (Monday) into Tuesday as well as over the eastern parts of Kwa-Zulu Natal tomorrow.”

The weather service also issued fire danger warnings for some parts of the country.

“Extremely high fire danger conditions are expected over most parts of the Northern Cape, the northeastern parts of the Western Cape, the western parts of the Eastern Cape, the eastern parts of the North West Province, and the extreme eastern parts of KwaZulu-Natal.”

Dam levels

Meanwhile, dam levels continue to decline drastically.

The Department of Water and Sanitation’s (DWS) weekly report indicates that the national average dam level is at 70%, down from 85% during the same period last year.

The severely impacted dams are the Vaal Dam (31.5%), Allemanskraal (47.2%) and Fika Patso (49.6 %), which supplies water to the greater Qwaqwa.

The level of South Africa’s giant Gariep Dam has also declined to 69.6%, compared to 87.2% last year.

DWS said three dams in a healthy state are the Vaalrivier Barrage, sitting at 95.3%; Vanderkloof, sitting at 91.2%; and Sterkfontein at the 97.7% mark.

ALSO READ: Joburg emergency on high alert for Gauteng thunderstorms