Pretoria and Johannesburg were hit by severe hail, flooding and infrastructure damage as emergency teams rushed to assess the impact.
People in Pretoria woke up to what looked like a winter wonderland after a hail storm with formidable hail stones in the early hours yesterday.
Reports of damaged roofs and carports, blocked roads and localised flooding in east Johannesburg and west Pretoria continue to pour in.
The roof of the Festival Mall in Kempton Park was severely damaged, the Northcliff water tower in Johannesburg was overflowing, while there was a full road closure in Pretoria North on Es’kia Mphahlele Drive and Nienaber Avenue.
Massive hailstorms damaged malls, roads and homes
Tshwane Emergency Management Services (EMS) spokesperson deputy chief Nana Radebe-Kgiba said EMS officers with the regional operations coordination department were still conducting a situational assessment to determine the extent of the damage.
“This includes evaluating affected infrastructure, identifying high-risk areas, and coordinating the clearing of roads to restore accessibility and ensure public safety,” she said.
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Sinoville Firefighting Association (SFFA) spokesperson Zenobia Loock said the intense hailstorm had severely affected the Montana Retirement Village and surrounding areas of Montana.
“Several patients had to be relocated as a safety precaution, while the SFFA was forced to intervene to prevent damaged ceilings from collapsing on to patients. Water surged through parts of the facility, reaching above knee height.”
The Weather Hooligan, Juandre Vorste, said hail was going to be a more common possibility for the next three months.
Hail will be more common in next three months
“Storms are increasingly forming directly over towns in clustered cells. These often develop into damaging, severe storms. I refer to them as lone rangers because they break away from larger systems and intensify independently,” he said.
SA Weather Service forecaster Lehlohonolo Thobela said the public was urged to take weather warnings seriously, as yesterday’s storm showed how quickly weather conditions can deteriorate once thunderstorms intensify.
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