SA warned of more bad weather

2007-10-08 07:33

Cape Town - Cold and wet conditions took most South Africans by surprise this weekend.

While the Eastern and Western Cape shivered with cold, a storm wreaked havoc on the West Rand.

The bad news is that it is not over yet.

The weather office has warned of extra heavy storms expected in Gauteng, the far northern parts of the Free State and the Eastern Highveld, in Mpumalanga, late on Monday afternoon, through to early evening.

In the Eastern Cape, more rain is expected.

Sharp drop in temperatures

This will be accompanied by a sharp drop in temperature of about 10°C within an hour.

Weather forecaster, Kevin Rae, said on Sunday that the storms were expected to reach the eastern highveld at Witbank, Standerton and Balfour by about 17:00 on Monday.

Those in Gauteng and northern Free State could expect heavy weather between 18:00 and 20:00

Rae said the SA weather service planned to send meteorologists to the far West Rand on Monday, to try to determine what kind of storm had struck the area on Saturday.

"We can't say with any uncertainty if there were several mini-tornados but one things is clear: it was a highly unusual storm."

Elise Tempelhoff reported from the far West Rand that at least 10 people were left without roofs when a destructive storm hit the area.

Trees uprooted

Shocked Randfontein residents on Sunday described how their roofs "flew off" in a matter of seconds. Hundreds of trees were uprooted and fences were blown over.

At the Ten Acres home of the Kleynhans family, the roof was ripped off and crumpled up, falling down about 100m away from their back door, in the veld.

Sarie Wewege of Hillside smallholdings, a stone's throw away from Ten Acres said she and her husband Viv heard a terrific storm arriving at about 19:00 on Saturday evening.

Within seconds, they heard a loud "suction sound".

"We were busy painting the inside walls when my husband shouted, 'Mamma, someone's roof has just flown over our house.'"

The crumpled sheets of corrugated iron landed in their garden. It was already dark, but they were sure it wasn't their own roof.

'Big shock'

"When the lightning struck, Viv saw that the roof was green.

"Then we realised it was our garage roof. It had flown clear over the roof of the house."

Siswe Matshikiza, spokesperson for the Gauteng Department of Agriculture, Conservation and the Environment, found a section of his roof on the property of his neighbour, Mike Monthé, on Sunday.

It hung over powerlines.

The other section of the roof was wedged in a pine tree in his front garden.

Matshikiza described it as a "big shock".

"It's nature, striking back because of all we've done to her, he said dejectedly.

Garth Sampson, spokesperson for the weather office in Port Elizabeth told Amelia de Milander that the sudden inclement weather was not unusual for this time of the year. "We can even expect a cold front or two later this year."

Sampson said heavy rainstorms and even light snowfalls had been expected in the high-lying areas of the Eastern Cape since Sunday.

"Livestock farmers are therefore warned to take the necessary precautions," Sampson said.

Rough seas were also forecast for Monday and Wednesday.

"The temperatures should start to rise again on Thursday," Sampson said.

Meanwhile, the weather office in Cape Town has received reports of snow on the Hottentots Holland mountains, as well as the Matroosberg Private Nature Reserve near Ceres. - Beeld/Die Burger

- News24