Portions of Gauteng have been hit by heavy rains and flooding on Wednesday according to video reports on social media and warnings by the South African Weather Service (SAWS).
A clip doing the rounds on Twitter, posted by Yusuf Abramjee and retweeted by SAWS, shows torrents of flood water rushing across a road near Midstream, Centurion.
No ad to show here.
#Storm Midstream @tWeatherSA @SAWeatherServic pic.twitter.com/tBo2CsLR51
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) November 20, 2019
The irony of that name, too.
Other social media users also reported an intense storm witnessed near OR Tambo International.
Drove through this incredible storm from OR Tambo to Pretoria just insane it was pouring visibility reduced. @SAWeatherServic @ReenvalSA @eNCAWeather @sawx_sa_weather @Themeteoguy @venter_annette @PhemeloMelo @StormHour @tWeatherSA pic.twitter.com/LLI1dxQxfB
— Lucky Mthombeni (@Mthombenilg) November 20, 2019
On Wednesday, SAWS issued a number of severe thunderstorm warnings and watches across the province, one in particular alerted residents of Tshwane to potential “heavy downpours and localised flooding”.
The warning remains in effect until 6pm Wednesday.
Warning:20/11/2019 15h00 TO:20/11/2019 18h00 Severe Thunderstorms are moving in over the western parts of City of Tshwane Municipality (GAU) moving slowly south-eastwards resulting in heavy downpours and localized flooding. pic.twitter.com/q8VivlQgt4
— SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) November 20, 2019
This comes after SAWS issued an earlier alert, stating that flooding across Gauteng was possible until 5am Thursday.
Thunderstorm warnings are also currently in effect in parts of the Northern Cape.
Follow the South African Weather Service
Weather is fickle and subject to change, so we’d recommend following SAWS on its official Twitter account, especially for updates on today’s thunderstorm activity.
And be sure to bookmark its warnings portal too, where it regularly updates the advisories and more serious information on the daily.
Feature image: A storm in Gauteng in 2016, by Francisco Anzola via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
