Battered Eastern Cape braces for more relentless rain

Heavy rain, gale-force winds and floodwaters battered parts of the Eastern Cape on Tuesday night and Wednesday, forcing dozens of schools to close, flooding homes and roads, triggering evacuations and disrupting flights. Gqeberha has been one of the worst hit in the province. Weather forecasters have warned that more heavy rain is expected until Friday.

The South African Weather Service (SAWS) said the province remained under threat from severe flooding as a cut-off low pressure system continued to moveacross the country. SAWS forecaster Nompumelelo Kleinbooi said conditions were expected to intensify over the southern and southeastern parts of the province late on Wednesday and into Thursday. “We have a cut-off low — that is a weather system that develops in the upper-air — that was over the western part of the country on Tuesday and it then moved into the Eastern Cape,” she said.

“The combination of these weather systems then resulted in widespread showers and thundershowers across most parts of SA.” The relentless rain caused widespread disruption across the province. Kleinbooi warned that very heavy rainfall, flooding, rough seas, snowfall and gale-force winds were expected across parts of the Cape provinces. She said rainfall figures along the south coast were expected to become “explosive”, with some areas potentially receiving more than 150mm within a 24-hour period.

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Between Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning, Port Alfred recorded the province’s highest rainfall, at 113mm. Gqeberha recorded 85mm, while Joubertina received 80.8mm.

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