Western Cape disaster teams on standby as severe weather forecast as holiday traffic increases

Western Cape disaster management teams and municipal crews are on standby to respond to severe weather forecast for this weekend when holiday traffic is expected to increase across the province.

The South African Weather Service (Saws) issued warnings on Wednesday for severe thunderstorms, heavy rain that could lead to flooding and large amounts of hail in parts of the province and the Northern Cape.

This as another cut-off low develops west of the country, hard on the heels of the “black southeaster” which dominated the western parts of South Africa last weekend “bringing significant record-breaking rainfall and weather-related impacts”.

Mopping-up operations are ongoing in the region, parts of which have been affected by thunderstorms, heavy rain and flash floods which downed trees and made roads impassable earlier this week.

“At a time when we are gearing up for the start of the festive season and expecting heightened traffic volumes as people arrive in our province, we are putting additional standby resources in place to respond where needed. However, we appeal to road users to exercise greater caution when travelling,” premier Alan Winde said on Wednesday.

“We are also concerned that with heightened levels of load-shedding and possible severe weather, the situation could worsen. I will hold an extended cabinet meeting tomorrow [Thursday] with municipalities across the province to assess plans and preparedness for this long weekend and the festive season.”

A deterioration in weather conditions is expected from Friday and the provincial disaster management centre has placed aerial and ground-support resources on standby.

“Widespread showers and thundershowers are likely to occur, with a chance that some of the storms may become severe, as was the case with the most recent system,” said Saws.

The Cape Town weather office has issued:

• A yellow level 4 warning for severe thunderstorms resulting in flooding and large amounts of hail for the southern interior of Namakwa (Northern Cape) and Western Cape on Friday into Saturday.

• An orange level 6 warning for severe thunderstorms resulting in flooding and large amounts of hail for the western and central parts of the Western Cape on Friday and over the central and southern parts on Saturday.

Heavy downpours (20-30mm/h) can be expected. Showers and storms were likely to be accompanied by strong, gusty and damaging winds (50-70km/h, gusting 80-90km/h).

Torrential rain on Monday caused flash floods in and around Paarl and Stellenbosch.

Saws said the accumulated rain recorded from December 12 to 13 over Paarl (40mm over 24-hours) was a new record for December.

Drakenstein municipality dispatched teams to clear flooded roads and stormwater drains  after an “unusual storm” on Monday saw at least 250 flood- and storm-related incidents reported.

Chief director of disaster management in the province Colin Deiner, speaking on CapeTalk on Tuesday, said the downpours had not led to large-scale displacements of residents or missing persons reports.

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