The South African Weather Services (SAWS) has warned residents in certain parts of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal to brace for disruptive rain and possible flooding from Sunday to Tuesday.
Several warnings were issued, including a level 4 yellow warning for Nelson Mandela Bay and a level 5 orange warning for East London.
According to a statement from the SAWS, the expected bad weather is due to a closed low-pressure system, which will affect the southern, central and eastern provinces.
SAWS spokesman Wayne Venter said closed low-pressure systems are notorious for resulting in severe weather during the spring months, including heavy rains that can lead to flooding, as well as intense thunderstorms accompanied by hail and damaging winds.
The forecast total rainfall till Monday, as forecast by the Global Unified Model (UMGA), shows significant rainfall in the range of 100 to 200 mm along the east coast of the country during this period.
“The low will develop over the southwestern parts of the country on Sunday, while a stationary high-pressure system at the surface will bring moisture to the southern and southeastern regions.
“These systems will bring widespread rainfall to parts of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, mainly from Sunday to Tuesday.”
The SAWS has issued the following impact-based warnings:
• Orange Level 5 Warning: Disruptive rain is expected along the coast and adjacent inland between East London and Port Edward today into Saturday (19/10/2024) causing flooding of settlements, roads and damage to property and infrastructure.
• Level 6 Orange Alert: Nuisance rain is expected along the coast and adjacent inland between Port Alfred and Mtunzini from Sunday to Monday, causing flooding of settlements, roads and damage to property and infrastructure.
• Yellow Level 4 Warning: Disruptive rain leading to localized flooding of settlements, roads, damage to property and infrastructure for the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, Kouga, Sundays River Valley, Makana and Mdlambe Local Municipality as well as Ngqushwa is expected from tomorrow. Sunday into Monday and will likely last into Tuesday.
• Level 4 Yellow Warning: Severe thunderstorms with heavy rain showers leading to localized flooding of settlements and low-lying areas, resulting in the closure of some bridges and roads, large amounts of small hail and damaging winds to informal/formal houses or structures and vehicles. expected from Sunday to Monday in most parts of KwaZulu-Natal, the far eastern Free State and the far southern Highveld of Mpumalanga.
• Yellow Level 2 Warning: Severe storms with heavy rain resulting in locally sensitive roads, low lying areas and bridges, large amounts of small hail which will result in localized damage to vehicles, houses and structures, as well as localized damage to informal areas as a result of the strong damaging winds are expected over eastern parts of both the North West and the Free State, Gauteng, the Mpumalanga Highveld and far north east KwaZulu-Natal, as well as far south west Limpopo from Sunday to Monday.
• Yellow Alert Level 2: Disruptive rain is expected south of the escarpment of the eastern parts of the Eastern Cape from Sunday to Monday, leading to localized flooding of sensitive roads, low-lying areas and bridges.
Venter said most parts of the country will experience warm to hot temperatures during this period, although cool to cold conditions can be expected in parts of the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and southern KwaZulu-Natal due to extensive cloud cover and rainfall.
“Wednesday is expected to return to calm weather conditions as the low moves eastwards away from the south-east coast.
“The South African Weather Service will continue to monitor any further developments regarding this weather system and issue follow-up updates as necessary.”
The SAWS has urged and encouraged the public to regularly monitor weather forecasts on television and radio.
algoafm.co.za
www.algoafm.co.za