[imagesource: Unsplash]

Ever since the South African Weather Service (SAWS) sent out a yellow warning for severe weather, people have been bracing themselves for gale-force winds and intense rain.

Especially those residing in the Overberg, Saldanha Bay, Plettenberg Bay, and along the Garden Route, where the storm was first expected to be the worst.

The reports mentioned the storm settling in from Thursday evening, with gale-force south-east to easterly winds gusting at 60 to 70 km/h and up to 80 to 100km/h all the way into Saturday.

Now, the storm looks to be widening its impact, with gale-force winds of up to 75km/h expected to reach places along the southern, south-western and south-eastern coastlines.

That means coastal regions along the Overberg and south-eastern parts of Cape Town, including Strand, Muizenberg, and Cape Point are at risk.

This is according to Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell via News24, which also reported that the Cape Winelands is expected to “see the brunt of the bad weather”:

“We can expect gale-force winds especially along the coastal areas, lots of rain up to 35mm and hail in parts of the interior in particular. This may lead to localised flooding, strong running water and difficult driving conditions, especially throughout the day on Friday,” he said in a statement.

He urged people living and travelling in the affected regions to limit being outdoors “as much as possible in the coming days”.

An idea of what’s headed your way:

Western Cape Today ‘s Weather overview: 26.11.2021 pic.twitter.com/ivEfHMw706

— SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) November 26, 2021

The Citizen reported that Bransby Bulo, senior forecaster for the Weather Service, said on Thursday that “there are active severe storms in the southern parts of North West and southern parts of Free State as well as southern Gauteng”:

“In the Western Cape, the cut-off low pressure system will bring rain to the province from Friday and strong winds in the western part of the country.

Rain is going to start in the afternoon in the Western Cape from Friday afternoon until Saturday. It will start to move out to the south east by Sunday.

We’ve got a number of alerts like strong winds along the south west coast and over the interior, heavy rainfall over the Garden Route area as well as severe thunderstorms over the western interior,” said the Weather Service.

Emergency services are on standby waiting to assist where needed.

Batten down the hatches.

[sources:news24&ewn&citizen]