Following heavy rains, various suburbs throughout Newcastle KwaZulu-Natal have flooded, with further rainfall expected.
Not long after the rains began to pour down on Sunday, 11 December 2022, Newcastillians took to sharing images of affected areas across the town.
Additionally, SACCW Traffic – Newcastle and Road Angels Traffic Information assisted in keeping residents abreast of the developments via their social pages.
So far, the following damages have been reported:
- Drakensberg School
- Water continues to rise on Nagtegal Street.
- Barry Hertzog Park Shopping centre parking flooded.
Furthermore, The South African Weather Association Services (SAWS) highlighted that the wet weather is expected to persist over the coming days with a further risk of flash flooding predicted.
“The central and eastern parts of the country have already seen flooding in recent days and weeks due to a lot of rain that has been experienced since the beginning of the summer rainfall season,” stated SAWS.
The weather service emphasised that the ground remains saturated in many of these places, and rivers and streams run full. “Under such conditions, a flash flood could be triggered quite easily, and the public is therefore strongly urged to be extra vigilant.”
SAWS also explained that the weather system would influence patterns over most parts of the country during the next few days, resulting in scattered to widespread showers and thundershowers in places. Whereby the weather service further said, “other hazards associated with this system are hail and lightning.”
Moreover, the MEC for the KZN Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (KZN CoGTA) called upon KwaZulu-Natal residents to exercise the utmost caution, as inclement weather conditions continue to affect large parts of the province.
“Heavy rains and severe thunderstorms experienced by the province during the weekend are expected to continue into the week. The continued rains increase the risk of flooding in low-lying areas. We are urging our communities, especially those that are near rivers or are in low areas, to carefully guard their situation and seek shelter on higher ground,” said the MEC.
He further noted that no major incident had been reported from the various municipalities.
With the wet weather expected to continue, be sure to share any pics you have of damage caused by the weather or share your views in the comment section below.
Photo credit: SACCW Traffic – Newcastle and Road Angels Traffic Information
