Following weather warnings from the South African Weather Bureau about possible heavy rains and flooding in the five northernmost provinces of the country, reports of widespread flooding in Mpumalanga province have been reported, with gravel roads in the southern part of the country’s largest wild animal sanctuary closed to visitors.
Latest reports from Mbombela, capital of Mpumalanga province, indicate widespread flooding in the province, with police divers being called out to search for missing people. Since midnight, police divers have rescued nine people from vehicles trapped by floodwaters, and are on their way to retrieve the bodies of five people who have reportedly drowned near the towns of Amsterdam and Piet Retief.
80mm (3”) of rain has been recorded at Nelspruit in the Mbombela local municipality since Monday night. Warrant Officer Coetzer, spokesman for SA Police Services, Skukuza, said that the SA National Parks helicopter had airlifted a man from Shishangeni Private Game Lodge as road access had been closed by flooding. The man had been bitten by a snake and needed hospital treatment.
A helicopter from the Mpumalanga Emergency Medical Services had airlifted a pregnant woman to hospital this morning for a scheduled C-section as the Kaap River had flooded and attempts to transport her via the train bridge had been unsuccessful.
Kruger National Park
The management of the Kruger National Park situated in Mpumalanga province sent out a tweet on Wednesday morning 5 March 2014 warning visitors about the road closures, including the closure of the Crocodile Bridge Gate entrance to the park, owing to flooding of the Crocodile River.
Crocodile Bridge gate is temporarily closed. Visitors are urged to use Malelane Gate as an alternative pic.twitter.com/eCUrM8dBGl
— Kruger National Park (@SANParksKNP) March 5, 2014
Flood damage to the Kruger National Park in 2013 exceeded R105m (US$9.74m), with Shingwedzi Rest Camp suffering the worst damage.
Gauteng Province
Heavy rain in parts of Gauteng province is affecting traffic flow and motorists have been advised to drive with caution and avoid driving through deep water. In Johannesburg, power was cut to several northern suburbs early on Wednesday morning owing to a cable fault, but this has not been confirmed to be flood-related.
The SA Weather Service reports that large amounts of tropically-sourced moisture have been influencing the eastern parts of the country since Saturday, 1 March 2014, and the system is enhanced by a steep upper-trough currently over the extreme western parts of the country.
This was expected to cause heavy rain and possible flooding in Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, the northern parts of KwaZulu-Natal and the eastern half of North West province on Wednesday.
For the 24 hour period up to 8am on Wednesday, rainfall between 54.8mm (2”) and 79.4mm (3”) had been reported in parts of Pretoria, and 97mm (3.8”) at Charters Creek on the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal province.
Rainfall is expected to decrease by Saturday, but another upper air trough was expected over the eastern half of the country by Sunday.
“This could once again cause scattered to widespread showers in the region,” SA Weather Service forecaster Jaqueline Riet said on Tuesday.
Sources: Low Velder; News 24; Weather SA
