Weather warning for several provinces 

The South African Weather Service (SAWS) has issued a yellow level 2 warning with severe thunderstorms in the southern and western parts of KwaZulu-Natal from Friday afternoon until Saturday evening. 

“Scattered showers and thundershowers are expected over western parts of KwaZulu-Natal today as well as over the southern and western parts of KwaZulu-Natal tomorrow. Possible severe thunderstorms are expected over the south-western KwaZulu-Natal today and over the western as well as the southern parts of KwaZulu-Natal tomorrow,” the weather service said in a post on social media platform, X.

The Weather Service said that these may be accompanied by large amounts of small hail, damaging winds, excessive lightning, and heavy downpours which may lead to localised impacts. 

Turning to the impact, the SAWS said localised damage to infrastructure, settlements, vehicles and livestock are a possibility.

These include localised injuries and danger to life due to lightning, localised and short-term disruption to municipal and other essential services and localised flooding of susceptible roads, low-lying areas and bridges.

A yellow level 2 warning of severe thunderstorm was also issued for Gauteng, Mpumalanga, as well as over Limpopo, except over the northern and extreme south-western parts for Friday (from 12pm until 11pm).

Earlier in the week, the SAWS warned of heavy rain  that is likely to elevate the risk of flooding over the next few days.

READ | SAWS warns of heavy rain

“Eastern South Africa is expected to experience increased rainfall over the next week, with numerical models predicting between 70 – 150 mm of accumulated rainfall in parts of Gauteng, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, the eastern Free State, eastern parts of North West, and the western and southern areas of Limpopo,” it said on Tuesday.  – SAnews.gov.za