Umbrella alert – rain and more rain for Gauteng

Gauteng residents‚ get your umbrellas ready. Plenty of rain is forecast to drench the province‚ leading to localised flooding on Tuesday.

The South African Weather Services has issued a warning for residents in and around Johannesburg that downpours are expected for the rest of the week.

Forecaster Kgolofelo Mahlangu said the bulk of the rain would fall on Tuesday. “We are expecting on-and-off thundershowers throughout the day on Tuesday. It is an 80% chance of rain we are expecting. With that we can expect heavy rain over Gauteng‚ which could lead to localised flooding‚” said Mahlangu.

Department of Water and Sanitation spokesperson Sputnik Ratau‚ however‚ cautioned residents to adhere to existing water restrictions. “Notwithstanding the recent rainfalls‚ the dam levels nationally continue to decline‚” he warned.

“The reason for that is the high temperatures‚ while there has not been sufficiently consistent rainfall. Accordingly‚ the weather services predict most of the consistent rainfall will be expected from January 2018‚” said Ratau.

“This therefore implies that South Africans need to continue using water prudently. We need to continue to adhere to water restrictions where these are being applied. We are not yet out of the woods in terms of the drought‚ and thus water availability.” Mahlangu said a warning had been issued for Gauteng on Tuesday. Temperatures will start off mild‚ warming up in the afternoon. Johannesburg temperatures will rise from 14°C to about 20°C. Pretoria will start off at 16°C and peak at 24°C. Vereeniging will go from 14°C to a maximum of 21°C.

“Our indicators show that Gauteng will get above normal rain for this season... It does not look like it will clear up for the next seven days. The bulk of the rain will be on Tuesday. From Wednesday onwards‚ it will rain mostly in the afternoon‚” said Mahlangu.

According Ratau‚ the Vaal Dam is 77% full‚ in stark contrast to where it was a year ago‚ at 35.1%. The national average for dams is 60.3%.