Level 5 warning issued for coastal areas of KZN

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The South African Weather Service has issued a level 5 warning for coastal areas of KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Zululand. This comes after at least 13 people have died in floods across the province since the end of last week.

Forecaster Thandiwe Gumede says the entire province can expect showers throughout today and into the night, with a danger of localised flooding in some places.

However, she says significant rainfall, thundershowers, and possible strong gusts of wind are expected over the coastal areas from Port Shepstone in the south right up to Kosi Bay in the north, and the adjacent interior, Gumede elaborates.

Thandiwe says “I have been following the weather for the past few days,  with regards to the ground being saturated, that’s exactly why we opted for the orange level 5. Because you’ll remember that even from this past Saturday we did get some storms coming through and affecting some areas along the coast and the adjacent area in KZN”.

“And as a result of that the ground is still saturated and that means should more rainfalls during the course of the day that rain will mostly run off rather than penetrating through the ground”, Thandiwe adds.

Update on KZN torrential rains with Jayed Paulse: