WATCH: Not a lot of rainfall in northern KZN as cold front moves to sea

Published May 24, 2022

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Durban - Richards Bay recorded 25mm of rainfall in northern KwaZulu-Natal by Tuesday morning as the cold front moved away from the country.

South African Weather Service forecaster Julius Mahlangu said Richards Bay received the highest amount of rainfall.

Mahlangu said Mbazwana received 19mm, Charters Creek 17mm and Makhathini 14mm.

“Most stations recorded below 10mm,” Mahlangu said.

He said that on Tuesday, there were fine conditions across the province. Wednesday would be similar but on Thursday, there was a 30% chance of rain in the eastern parts of the province.

In a weather group on Facebook, Mike Bouwer posted a video of heavy rainfall in St Lucia, on the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal, on Monday afternoon.

Bouwer captioned the video: “Cyclone type rain in St Lucia now. Yo! It is a solid sheet of water falling from the sky!”

START Rescue teams were on high alert after the province was placed on a red level 10 warning for heavy rainfall. | Facebook

Meanwhile, START Rescue spokesperson Warren Brauns said that on Monday evening, they received a message from a community policing forum requesting help after a driver attempted to cross a river in the Waterfall area.

“The driver did not realise the depth of the water and the vehicle got stuck with a family of three inside. START controllers dispatched members to the scene to assist. On their arrival, it was found that a member of the public had managed to successfully pull the vehicle out to the other side of the river safely,” Brauns said.

START Rescue teams were on high alert after the province was placed on a red level 10 warning for heavy rainfall. | Facebook

Over the weekend, START Rescue teams were on high alert after the province was placed on a red level 10 warning for heavy rainfall.

Brauns said that on Saturday, their control room was inundated with panicked calls from members of the public informing them of rising floodwaters.

“Due to the cut-off low-pressure system, caused a weekend of heavy rainfall that led to further damage which included massive sinkholes, landslides, blocks of flats and old-age homes needing to be evacuated and bridges collapsing,” Brauns said.

“START rescue teams were dispatched to the Umdloti, Umlazi, Isipingo, eManzimtoti, oThongathi and uMdloti areas where we received multiple calls for assistance which included but were not limited to help with evacuations, water rescues, and motor vehicle accidents.”

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