Joburg’s first welcome showers short-lived
GAUTENG residents can expect some respite from the cold snap that gripped the province and many parts of the country, with temperatures expected to rise from today.
But the reprieve will come with a bit of disappointment for those hoping for more showers. SA Weather Service forecaster Dipuo Kawana said no rain was expected for the rest of the week and temperatures should start rising.
Conditions will remain cloudy this morning and partly cloudy later, with temperatures ranging between 6°C and 19°C for Joburg, 8°C and 21°C for Pretoria and 6°C and 19°C for Vereeniging.
While no reports of flooding or shack fires were reported in Gauteng, the cold and wet weather brought some disaster in some parts of KwaZulu-Natal. KZN emergency medical services reported that seven people died and scores were injured in accidents over the weekend.
A motorist had to be rescued from a river after his vehicle veered off the road and a woman died in a crash in separate incidents on the “waterlogged” N2 at Amanzimtoti on Saturday.
In another incident, a man was killed when his bakkie veered off the road into bushes on the N2, south of Durban, also on Saturday. The accidents occurred during heavy rainfalls across KwaZuluNatal at the weekend. The National Sea Rescue Institute assisted in the river rescue operation.
“The driver had managed to free himself from the vehicle and had reached the river bank without any injury before the Sea Rescue team arrived. Other medical services attended to the driver while the vehicle was recovered from the river,” NSRI spokesperson Andrew Ingram said in a statement.
“Reports indicate that the vehicle veered off the waterlogged highway and plunged into the river several metres below,” Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said.
Ingram told The Star’s sister paper, The Mercury, yesterday that both accidents were due to the “severe weather”.
Rainfall was high in Durban from Saturday morning to yesterday morning, where 34mm was recorded.
Photographs on social media showed snowfalls over the Drakensberg, Harrismith, and Sani Pass.
Murray Cairns of Sani Pass Tours said yesterday they had not experienced any damage from snowfalls. “The snow is thick but the (Sani Pass) road is fine,” he said.