WATCH | Severe weather alert: rainfall to exceed 80mm this week

The National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) says it has teams on standby monitoring areas in danger of being flooded because they are experiencing heavy rains and is ready to respond to any eventuality.

This comes as the SA Weather Service has forecast strong downpours and thunderstorms in the coming days and put flood-prone communities across the country on high alert. Rainfall is forecast to exceed 80mm this week, sharply increasing the risk of flash flooding in low-lying areas.

NDMC head Dr Elias Sithole told Sowetan that contingency plans are in place to react and help should the need arise.

“We have a three-layer contingency plan, including municipalities, provinces, and the national level, which is actually activated now, as we are experiencing heavy rains,” he said. “We also have teams on standby and are monitoring the hotspots, typically low-lying areas where we experience heavy rain because those areas tend to be flooded.”

The eastern parts of the Western Cape, as well as the southwestern parts of the Eastern Cape, are at risk of severe flooding, according to the weather service.

KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape, and Namaqua are on orange level 6 warning, with lightning, hail, and flooding of roads and bridges expected, resulting in infrastructure damage.

Areas in KZN set to be affected by the extreme weather include eThekwini, particularly Richards Bay, Mbazwana, and uMgungundlovu.

The weather service warned that thunderstorms are also expected, with the possibility that some of them may become severe over Mpumalanga, the southeastern parts of Limpopo, and Gauteng. These thunderstorms are associated with heavy downpours leading to localised flooding and strong, damaging winds.

The weather on Wednesday is forecast to be cloudy and cold to cool with isolated-to-scattered showers and thundershowers widespread in places.

“Severe thunderstorms, disruptive rain and snow, damaging winds, and waves [are expected],” the weather service said in a statement.

In the North West, flooding claimed a life on Monday, sweeping away a 12-year-old girl. Col Adele Myburgh, spokesperson for the police in the province, said officers had to rescue people from fast-moving water in multiple incidents, including three people who clung to tree branches in Reivillo, Pudimoe, and Taung.

Five others were saved after their vehicles were swept away.

Excavators also had to be sent to the affected areas to dig furrows to redirect water to prevent it from flooding houses.

In the Eastern Cape, the adverse weather conditions yesterday led to the suspension of flights to and from King Phalo Airport in KuGompo.

Tokelo Chiloane, senior forecaster at the SA Weather Service, told Sowetan that the heavy rains were caused by strong winds high in the atmosphere that were pulling in lots of clouds.

“In the past week, parts of the North West, Free State, and the eastern parts of the Northern Cape have received significant rainfall, resulting in severe impacts,” he said.

“With the current system, rainfall amounts are not expected to be as high, but because the ground is already saturated, even moderate rainfall can lead to further damage, which is why we are already receiving reports of loss of life. Conditions are expected to improve on Thursday into the weekend.”

Authorities have warned that ongoing downpours continue to pose a risk, with strong river currents, water flowing over roads, and dangerous swimming conditions increasing the likelihood of further incidents.

Residents of Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg have been warned of severe thunderstorms accompanied by heavy downpours.

William Ntladi, spokesperson for Ekurhuleni’s emergency services, said: “Pedestrians and motorists are urged to be extremely cautious when approaching low-lying bridges and flooded streams and to be extremely cautious when using heaters to keep warm because temperatures are also anticipated to be in the single digits towards mid-teens at maximum.”

Vukani Mbele, media liaison for the eThekwini municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, warned residents to take immediate precautions, avoid flood-prone areas and not attempt to cross flooded roads, rivers or bridges “as life-threatening conditions are expected”.

In the Western Cape, residents of the Garden Route, Overberg and Central Karoo have also been urged to avoid unnecessary travel due to flooding

Wouter Kriel, spokesperson for the local government, environmental affairs and development planning department, said: “The provincial disaster management centre is coordinating response efforts with district and local municipalities, national departments, and emergency services. Joint operations centres have been activated across high-risk areas, and water rescue resources are being pre-positioned.”

Sowetan