Motorists stuck on the N3 amid extreme weather conditions

The N3 Toll Concession
says due to heavy snowfall and conditions that have become treacherous, the
route remains closed from Estcourt in KZN to Harrismith in the Free State –
with Van Reenen’s Pass shut, and various other lanes closed.

 

Malcom Hendricks who is
travelling back to Durban from Rustenburg with work colleagues says the road
seemed clear until they reached Bergview.

 

“The snow got really
heavy, we tried to carry on down towards Montrose and to have another stop over
there. On the way we were stuck for about half an hour, there were incidents on
the road from about 9 o’ clock last night until now.”

 READ: LOOK: KZN ‘winter wonderland’ as province blanketed in snow

His colleague says they
were not given any indication beforehand despite seeing emergency vehicles
along the route.

 

“When we left
Bergview, the road was open and there were police and emergency services but
not once did they stop the people and say go back. So, everyone rode and rode
until we just came to a halt.

 

“We are fine, we’ve
got power and enough fuel. My concern is that there are people here you can see
with children and with elderly people. We are not far from Harrismith but we
don’t see any small initiative from the Harrismith side, where there are
emergency rescue teams.”

 

The weather office, which
issued warnings about these severe conditions days ago, says the alerts remain
in place.

 

There is a level 6
warning for disruptive snowfall, resulting in the loss of livestock and crops,
over the extreme south-western parts of KZN today.

 

A similar level 2 alert
has been sent out for the province’s western region.

 

There is also a warning
for disruptive rainfall which could result in localised flooding in northern
KZN.

Find us on social media

Follow the ECR Newswatch WhatsApp channel here

We are also on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter)