KZN residents urged to exercise caution as inclement weather expected

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs has called upon residents to exercise extreme caution as inclement weather conditions are expected this weekend.

This follows a South African Weather Service (SAWS) advisory that a cut-off low pressure system could bring light snowfall, freezing temperatures and severe thunderstorms in parts of the country, including KwaZulu-Natal, from Thursday going into the weekend.

MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Sipho Hlomuka, urged residents to take the necessary precautions in their efforts to get warm.

“Communities utilising generators, electric heaters and braziers are urged to follow safety precautions. Communities residing in low-lying areas could experience flooding as a result of the already saturated ground, following the heavy rains experienced by the province in April.

“Disaster Management teams will continue to work closely with the South African Weather Service to alert communities should the cut-off low pressure system result in severe weather warning,” Hlomuka said.

Cut-off low expected to affect the country

In a statement, the SAWS warned that a cold front and a cut-off low pressure system is expected to affect the country this weekend, starting in the west on Thursday, spreading to the central parts by Friday and the eastern parts by Saturday.

“A steep upper-air trough system will develop into a cut-off low pressure system over the north-western interior of the country by Friday, 20 May 2022. Widespread rainfall can be expected over the southern and central parts of the country from Thursday onwards, with light snowfalls likely over the mountainous, high-lying areas of the Western and Eastern Cape, spreading to the Lesotho Drakensberg regions by the weekend, where heavier falls are anticipated.

“Light snowfalls can also be expected over the high-lying ground of south-eastern and eastern Free State [and] a 24-hour rainfall accumulations of 25 to 35mm (millimetre) can also be expected over the drought-stricken parts of the Eastern Cape.

“Moreover, there is also the possibility of isolated severe storms, accompanied by strong winds and large amounts of small hail over the central and eastern interior, however SAWS will issue detailed radar-based warnings in this regard, should the need arise,” the service said.