Extreme rainfall and widespread flooding overnight: KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Eastern Cape

Meteosat RGB composite image at 11h00SAST 12 April 2022, clearly indicating the cyclonic swirl of deep convective cloud, associated with heavy rain, just off the southern coastline KwaZulu-Natal. Source: Eumetsat, © 2022.

Meteosat RGB composite image at 11h00SAST 12 April 2022, clearly indicating the cyclonic swirl of deep convective cloud, associated with heavy rain, just off the southern coastline KwaZulu-Natal. Source: Eumetsat, © 2022.

Published Apr 12, 2022

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CAPE TOWN - The current rainfall system that has lashed KwaZulu-Natal will have weakened considerably by Wednesday, heralding a spell of a few days of settled, dry weather, the South African Weather Service (SAWS) says.

However, rain is expected to return to many provinces ahead of and during the coming Easter weekend when many people will be travelling to other parts of the country, the SAWS said on Tuesday.

“Following a weekend of widespread rainfall over much of the country, the cut-off low system responsible for the inclement weather began moving eastwards over KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape overnight.

“Whilst impact-based warnings were indeed issued in a timely manner by the South African Weather Service, it appears that the exceptionally heavy rainfall overnight and this morning exceeded even the expectations of the southern African meteorological community at large.”

Matrix for Impact-based warnings.

At 4pm on Monday a Level 5 warning was issued for the coast and adjacent interior of KwaZulu-Natal. This was subsequently escalated to a Level 8 warning at 8pm.

However, following reports of further impacts and persistent, heavy rainfall, SAWS has now upgraded the heavy rain warning to an Orange Level 9 for the remainder of Tuesday.

Accumulated rainfall (mm) for the period 8 to 11 April 2022 (including the first 8 hours of 12 April). Of particular interest and relevance are the values indicated in light pink, indicating 200-400 mm. Source SAWS.

“Overnight rainfall reports from KwaZulu-Natal have underscored the particularly heavy and extreme nature of the rainfall, with some 24-hour falls exceeding 200mm. More noteworthy is that a few stations even reported 300mm or more.”

King Shaka International Airport recorded 225mm rain, Margate 311mm, Mount Edgecombe 307mm, Port Edward 188mm as well as Virginia airport in Durban north with 304mm.

The SAWS added: “The good news is that by tomorrow the current rainfall system will have weakened considerably, heralding a spell of a few days of settled dry weather. However, the public should take note that rain is expected to return to many of our provinces ahead of and during the coming Easter weekend when many people will be travelling to other parts of the country. The public are therefore urged to continue to monitor forecasts and warnings issued by SAWS. A dedicated media release, covering the weather forecast for the Easter weekend, will be issued by SAWS soon.”

The public was urged to regularly follow weather forecasts via www.weathersa.co.za or the SA Weather Service Twitter account @SAWeatherService

Cape Times

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