By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
South African Weather Service (SAWS) has issued an alert that a storm that is currently in the east is slowly making its way to the north of Johannesburg.
A forecaster, Venetia Phakula, said SAWS had been alerted about the heavy rains in Alberton, east of Johannesburg, but had not issued an official warning because there was no cause for concern yet.
“We might see some flooding in other areas around Gauteng, but we haven’t issued anything official yet. The official alert is more for the Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal,” she said.
On Tuesday, residents posted photos on social media of flooding in parts of Alberton. Motorists were seen stuck in traffic, with their vehicles attempting to drive through flooded roads.
Ekurhuleni Emergency Services spokesperson, William Ntladi, said that flooding had cleared between the N12 and R59 Reading interchange.
While the municipality said it was still investigating what led to the flooding, Phakula believed it might be due to clogged drains rather than heavy rain.
“This one is more like pooling, resulting from blocked drainage systems. I think it’s the first rain, and dry leaves are clogging up the drainage systems. The flooding we see at the moment is more of a drainage system [issue]. According to our models, most of the [heavy rains] that could cause flooding are in KZN and Mpumalanga,” said Phakula.
The heavy rains in Mpumalanga and KZN could cause localised flooding, damage to infrastructure, and minor road accidents.
The weather service said a well-developed upper-air trough, associated with coldness and instability, was in the process of intensifying over the south-western parts of southern Africa.