By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The South African Weather Service (Saws) has issued a warning for disruptive rainfall that may cause localised flooding in several regions of the country.
Forecaster Samke Thwala says scattered to widespread showers and thundershowers are expected from Wednesday across the central parts of the country with the possibility of heavy downpours which could potentially result to localized flooding.
“The weather outlook for Wednesday, will be cloudy in the east, otherwise, partly cloudy and warm but cool over the eastern areas with widespread to scattered thundershowers and rain, with warnings of severe thunderstorms and disruptive rain.”
“The weather outlook for Thursday, will be partly cloudy and warm, but cool in the east with scattered to isolated showers and thundershowers over most parts of the country, but widespread over the central areas of the Northern Cape.”
“Weather outlook for Friday: Partly cloudy and warm, but cool in places in the east with scattered to isolated showers and thundershowers over most parts of the country, and widespread over the central areas of Free State.”
Thwala adds that a Yellow Level 2 warning has been issued.
“Yellow Level 2 warning: Disruptive rain leading to localised flooding of susceptible settlements, roads, low lying areas and bridges as well as localised disruption to municipal services are expected over the eastern half of the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, highveld of Mpumalanga, Gauteng, western and central parts of Limpopo, eastern parts of the North West and north-east Free State province.
“Yellow Level 2 warning: Severe thunderstorms with strong damaging winds and heavy downpours, leading to localised damage and flooding of roads, settlements (formal and informal), low-lying areas and bridges are expected over the extreme north-eastern parts of the Northern Cape, in places over the western parts of both North West and Free state province.”
Meanwhile the Road Traffic Management Corporation has on Wednesday advised motorists to exercise extreme caution when driving in rainy conditions.
RTMC spokesperson Simon Zwane has urged drivers to reduce speed, keep a safe following distance, have lights on and avoid crossing flooded bridges.
“Motorists must also ensure that vehicles are in a roadworthy state. Lights, wipers, windscreens ,brakes, and tyres must be checked before the start of the journey. Officers will not hesitate to discontinue or impound vehicles that are not roadworthy. “
This comes as more than 1738 vehicles have been discontinued and 3340 impounded since the start of the festive season.
More than 4160 motorists have been arrested, the majority were held for drunken driving while others were detained for producing false documents and driving public transport contrary to operating permits.
“Public transport operators are again reminded that their drivers have proper documents to drive, and the vehicles are used on permitted routes and are not overloaded. Severe consequences will be faced by those found operating contrary to the rules”, added Zwane.