Johannesburg – A bad hailstorm was experienced in Meyersdal and surrounding areas in the southern parts of Johannesburg on Tuesday following a severe heatwave in the province.
SA weather service forecaster, Surprise Mhlongo said: “The hailstorm is not entirely a result on the heatwave that was experienced in the province, it definitely may have contributed but there are other factors in the atmosphere that lead to a hailstorm.”
In pictures shared by TrafficSA, there are large volumes of cars and trucks shown that were stuck on the roads as the result of the hailstorm as well as heavy rainfall that caused in flooding in other areas.
A witness said the flooding was the result of poor drainage systems and due to this hail storm chances are high that they might experience heavy load shedding owing to damage to substations and the like.
"Imagine if there was no litter or blocked storm water drains. This water would not cause havoc like this every time it rains." the witness lamented.
Motorists have also been cautioned to be vigilant as heavy rainfalls are still expected in Meyersdal and its surrounding areas during the course of this week.
Gauteng Weather on Twitter said that emergency services were cleaning up the roads.
Mhlongo said: “It is not clear how long this hailstorm will go on, but we are expecting that this will have a severe impact on weather conditions throughout the rest of the week.”
“From Monday, we have seen the weather change, with certain areas experiencing thunderstorms and this will continue throughout the province and possibly also in the Free State, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and North West.”
Other parts of the province have begun to also experience the weather changes as slight rainfall was experienced in Centurion and other areas in the east and the north of Pretoria on Tuesday.
Be aware that the weather is expected to become severe over the course of the week, with strong winds, lightning and rain, said Mhlongo.