The South African Weather Service (SAWS) said, “Intense Tropical Cyclone “Freddy” has been a feature of the circulation of the South-West Indian Ocean region for about the last week. For the past few days, it has drifted slowly westwards, following a track roughly parallel to the Equator.”
However, it should be noted that Cyclone Freddy was recently downgraded to a tropical storm that is likely to bring significant rainfall and the chance of flooding over the northeastern sector of the country. Parts of Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal are expected to be the worst affected.
The change in weather is expected to experience the impact of the tropical storms from early Saturday until Monday (25 to 27 February 2023).
What can you expect?
Certain areas could experience heavy rainfalls between 200 mm and 400 mm. This may result in widespread, significant flooding.
Both SAWS and Arrive Alive warned that KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga will be the worst affected.
In fact, SAWS pointed out that residents of Capricorn (Limpopo), as well as Umkhanyakude, Zululand, and Amajuba (KwaZulu-Natal), are urged to be extra vigilant as the situation may be exacerbated by the recent flooding events in these places.
SAWS emphasised that in addition to heavy rains, strong winds caused by “Freddy” are also expected in the northeastern parts from Friday evening, with average speeds of about 45 km/h.
With sordid weather conditions expected over the weekend, SAWS noted disaster management teams are closely monitoring the situation alongside it.
“The public can rest assured that SAWS, in consultation with National and Provincial Disaster Management structures, will continue to monitor developments on a 24/7 basis and will issue regular updates in this regard, across a variety of media and social media platforms,” concluded SAWS.
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Glad the gas canisters were not leaking that could have been a disaster