Live Updates | Wild weather sweeps South Africa as snow and storms cause disruption
Wild weather is sweeping South Africa, with snow, severe thunderstorms, damaging winds and heavy rain expected to cause travel disruptions, flooding and other impacts. Follow our live updates.
South Africa is set to endure a week of severe weather, with snow, dangerous winds and storms expected to disrupt travel and daily life across much of the country. The South African Weather Service has issued warnings for very cold temperatures, heavy snowfall in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, and potential severe thunderstorms in Gauteng, the Free State and North West provinces.
Motorists are advised to exercise extreme caution as roads are becoming wet, slippery and hazardous. Several major routes, including the N3, R617, R74, N6 and N9, have already been closed or rendered hazardous due to the weather. The KwaZulu-Natal Transport and Human Settlements MEC has announced that the R617 to Kokstad remains impassable due to heavy snowfall. Similarly, the N2 towards the Brook’s Nek in the Eastern Cape is currently wet from recent snowfall.
The weather service has deployed teams to assist communities affected by the snow, and snow chasers are prohibited from certain areas. Despite these challenges, large parts of the country are expected to remain under disruptive conditions into Tuesday, with forecasters predicting heavy snowfall in the Eastern Cape, damaging winds and rough seas along the KZN coast, and severe thunderstorms in southern Gauteng, North West and the Free State.
Written by urgent.news from IOL's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
