DURBAN - Severe weather systems have led the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board (KZNSB) to remove shark safety gear on the KZN coast.
Acting head of operations Greg Thompson said a category 4 (wind speeds up to 110 knots) tropical cyclone Batsirai is currently on course and predicted to make landfall in southern Mozambique early next week.
Thompson said the forecast could possibly have a major effect on our local sea and weather conditions from Sunday, February 6.
He said they were, in association with several weather forecasting services, also observing the development of two other severe weather advisories which are, unfortunately, also forecast to affect our local weather patterns at more or less the same time as cyclone Batsirai.
He said a very large mass of rainfall stretching from Namibia all the way across the Northern Cape and into the Eastern Cape was fast approaching the KZN coastline, and a massive cold front, which is developing in the Atlantic Ocean and currently approaching the Western Cape, was also predicted to reach us early next week.
“Due to the above, the KZNSB operations management team in conjunction with the executive, have taken a decision to start removing all of the board’s shark safety gear from the water when boats launch this morning, February 3. This action is taken to prevent unnecessary losses and/or damage to equipment as a result of strong winds and heavy seas associated with these severe weather systems, and bathing will be closed at all recognised KZN bathing beaches as from February 4,” Thompson said.
He added that the gear would be returned once the weather systems dissipate and the sea and weather conditions return to normal.
Daily News