Alert for severe thunderstorms brought on by tropical storm Filipo in several SA provinces
|Published
Durban — The South African Weather Service (Saws) has issued a severe weather alert for several SA provinces on Thursday (today).
The yellow Level 2 warning for severe thunderstorms resulting in localised flooding, large hail, damaging winds and difficult driving conditions applied to the Mpumalanga Highveld, the southern and central parts of Limpopo and the western parts of KwaZulu-Natal.
According to Saws weather forecaster, Nhlanhla Sithole, the warning was issued for the northern and north-western parts of KZN for severe thunderstorms accompanied by heavy downpours, the possibility of damaging wind and large amounts of small hail. Additionally, there is excessive lightning accompanied by these storms.
Sithole said the alert was only for Thursday (today).
He said that for Friday, they were not expecting any rainfall.
“Tomorrow (Friday) is expected to clear up for a moment and then the day after tomorrow it’s going to be mainly along the coast and adjustment interior. And then after that, we are expecting the rainfall to spread a little bit westwards into the interior and the northern parts of KZN,” Sithole said.
“In terms of the heat, tomorrow (Friday), we are expecting the temperatures to pick up a little bit but nothing out of the ordinary. We are expecting up to 32°C for the central parts of KZN as well as the north-western parts.”
He said that on Saturday, temperatures were expected to skyrocket to around 38°C for areas like Estcourt, Mooi River and then going west towards Ladysmith and Underberg and the likes, just bordering Free State and KZN.
Sithole said that on Monday, in terms of rainfall, it would be across the province, with more expected over the south-eastern parts.
Meanwhile, in the morning, the meteorological service Météo-France reported that the low-pressure system Filipo was moving quickly towards the south-east.
“It has lost its tropical characteristics and has just passed into the post-tropical depression stage,” Météo-France said.
“However, it still generates very strong winds but only moves over the sea, moving away from the African coasts and Madagascar.”
Météo-France added that Filipo did not pose a threat to inhabited lands.
On Wednesday evening, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, a non-governmental and non-profit organisation, tweeted that on Tuesday, tropical storm Filipo struck the province of Inhambane in Mozambique, entering the country through the Inhassoro district.
It said that according to local authorities, the storm resulted in the destruction of 510 houses and affected 2 780 people.
Additionally, Red Cross Mozambique is on the ground, working alongside local authorities, to assess the situation.
On 12 March, Tropical Storm Filipo struck the province of Inhambane in Mozambique, entering the country through the Inhassoro district.
— IFRC (@ifrc) March 13, 2024
According to local authorities, the storm resulted in the destruction of 510 houses and affected 2,780 people.
The Mozambique Red Cross… pic.twitter.com/xlOshwhr3F
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