Tropical Storm Eloise leaves ‘trail of destruction’ across Limpopo.

Staff Reporter.

Tropical Storm Eloise has made landfall in Limpopo this morning, causing widespread flooding and destruction across the province. The extreme weather system has also sparked chaos on the roads, with several major routes – and many around Kruger National Park – now closed off:

This is due to persistent heavy rain, with “more heavy rain expected tonight into tomorrow”.

“This will cause serious strain on emergency services. Take extreme caution in these areas,” SAWS said.

Tropical storm Eloise is currently over the north of the country.

Roads are flooding, as is the Kruger National Park where rivers are overflowing and all gravel roads closed.

In an update, the Kruger National Park said: “All gravel roads around Mopani closed, 66mm rainfall. Boulders, Shipandani not accessible. Mopani to Phalaborwa road closed, guests will have to please drive via Letaba to Phalaborwa. All gravel roads and H13-1 tar road in Nxanatseni (far north) are closed due to flooding. Tsendze Bridge on H14 is under water. Road closed from Phalaborwa side as well.

On Sunday morning, the weather service reported these rainfall amounts from midnight until 8.20am (preliminary data):

Limpopo

  • Giyani — 76mm;
  • Tshivhase — 103mm;
  • Tshanowa — 129mm;
  • Thohoyandou -63mm;
  • Hoedspruit — 56mm;
  • Levubu — 76mm.

Mpumalanga

  • Bourkes AWS — 57mm;
  • Skukuza — 51mm;
  • Nelspruit — 28mm.

More rainfall is still expected for the eastern parts of Mpumalanga (Ehlanzeni district municipalities) and northern KZN (Zululand and Umkhanyakude district municipalities) evening into tomorrow.

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