More heavy rain to hit Gauteng
Chaos on the roads due to ‘impatience’
The wet weather conditions that have engulfed most parts of Gauteng this week have resulted in more than 50 car accidents in Johannesburg as motorists lost control of their vehicles.
In many instances, speeding and and impatience were blamed for the crashes. This was revealed by Emergency Management Services spokeswoman Nana Radebe in an interview with Sowetan last night.
“Since Monday, mostly [we have been attending to] motor vehicle accidents but there is nothing major where you can say people have died.
“Most of them were bumper to bumper. We have responded to over 60 motor vehicle accidents,” Radebe said.
She said there have not been major incidents of flooding reported in the country’s economic hub.
“...We have not had flooding incidents. We have requested people to avoid taking roads that are flooded and report them,” she said.
She advised motorists to keep a safe following distance on the roads. Radebe also pleaded with motorists to refrain from speeding, saying that was the major cause of most of the accidents.
SA Weather Services forecaster Dipuo Tawana said this summer’s rain season was going to be wetter than in recent years. She said more isolated afternoon thunderstorms could be expected in Gauteng.
“On Friday (tomorrow) up to 60% chances of isolated thundershowers over Gauteng can be expected,” Tawana said.
She said the type of rainy weather the country was experiencing was developing from a weak La Nina phase, which is characterised by frequent rainfall and flooding.
She added that provinces like Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North West and Eastern Cape and KZN were going to experience scattered thundershowers tomorrow, while the Western Cape would be hit by a severe heatwave.