SAWS issues weather alerts

The South African Weather Service (SAWS) has warned of severe storms in the Free State, North West, Northern Cape and the Eastern Cape on Thursday. 'Conditions are favourable for the development of severe storms, resulting in strong damaging winds, excessive lightning, possible hail, and heavy downpours over the western and southern part of the Free State, the western part of the North West, as well as the extreme northeastern part of the Northern Cape tomorrow,' SAWS said on Wednesday. These adverse weather conditions are expected to be accompanied by hail over open areas, localised damage to settlements over an open area and localised flooding in susceptible roads, low-lying areas and bridges. There is a likelihood that trees will fall and block minor roads. 'A surface trough is expected to extend into a coastal low along the South Coast. This, coupled with upper-air perturbations, is expected to result in showers and thundershowers over the Eastern Cape. 'There is a possibility that the expected stor ms can become severe due to favourable conditions and may result in damaging winds, hail, downpours and excessive lightning,' SAWS said. The impact of the severe storm includes localised damage to settlements and temporary structures, localised and short term disruption to power supply, localised damage to vehicles as well as falling trees blocking roads. Meanwhile, KwaZulu-Natal can expect to experience damaging winds on Thursday. 'A cold front, with a high pressure ahead of it, creates a tight gradient, resulting in strong... winds between Port Edward and Durban tomorrow (early morning), moderating towards midday,' SAWS said. The strong winds are expected to have a general disruption within ports and the harbour but manageable internally. There will also be localised difficulty in navigation. Source: South African Government News Agency