{"id":16488,"date":"2025-12-01T16:02:46","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T14:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/severe-thunderstorms-wreak-havoc-across-sa\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:31:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:31:37","slug":"severe-thunderstorms-wreak-havoc-across-sa","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/severe-thunderstorms-wreak-havoc-across-sa\/","title":{"rendered":"Severe thunderstorms wreak havoc across SA"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><span data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\">This was after a weather alert was upgraded from Level 2 to Level 4 mid-afternoon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The SA Weather Service had warned of large hail, heavy downpours and strong winds, all of which materialised as storms rapidly intensified over northern Gauteng, including Pretoria, and parts of Limpopo near Marble Hall.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Reports from residents, social media posts and weather observers confirm that heavy rainfall triggered sudden flooding in low-lying and poorly drained areas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Damaging winds uprooted trees and caused localised structural damage, while large hailstones left a trail of destruction across the East Rand,\u00a0including Brakpan, Benoni, Springs, Kempton Park, Thembisa and Boksburg, as well as Pretoria North in communities such as Daspoort, Wonderboom and Sinoville in the Gauteng province. Vehicles, roofs and other property suffered extensive damage, and traffic was disrupted by fallen trees, pooling water and poor visibility.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Meteorologists say the severe conditions developed in an environment marked by high moisture levels over the eastern interior, strong surface heating, sufficient wind shear and a surface trough that enhanced instability.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>These factors created ideal conditions for deep convective storms capable of producing large hail, destructive winds and intense rainfall, validating the heightened severity level communicated in the early warning system.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Authorities are urging the public to take weather warnings seriously, noting that the weekend and continued Monday impacts demonstrate how quickly storm conditions can intensify.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Residents have been encouraged to monitor official updates, seek shelter when thunderstorms develop, move vehicles under cover where possible, avoid driving through flooded roads and report fallen trees or damage to municipal officials.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Seasonal forecasts suggest that extreme weather events, including heavy rainfall and severe thunderstorms, may become more frequent across eastern SA. Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga are expected to face continued volatility as climate trends point to a possible increase in the intensity of storms in the months and years ahead.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":16489,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-16488","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Severe thunderstorms caused widespread damage across South Africa's (SA) Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces over the weekend.\u00a0","published_date":null,"news_description":"Severe thunderstorms caused widespread damage across South Africa's (SA) Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces over the weekend.\u00a0","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/16488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/16488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20277,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/16488\/revisions\/20277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=16488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}