South Africa: It’s that time of the year when South Africa gets covered in snow completely. A severe cold front swept across South Africa since the weekend brought heavy snowfall that led to road closures, power outages and a fatal road accident.
As the adverse weather hits, Eastern Cape Transport Department and the South African Weather Service warned the citizens last week that there would be a big drop in temperature this week across the country, as accompanied by the disruptive rain, damaging winds and snow over eastern areas.
Reportedly, South Africa regularly receives snowfall during the winter months from June through August, with temperatures diving below zero degrees Celsius i.e. 32° Fahrenheit.
The KwaZulu-Natal Transport Department has warned all about the snow since Monday across the provinces that also includes Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Free State. The weather is prompting closures along sections of the N2 highway that connects the provinces.
Considering this, power utility – Eskom said in its X post that it was experiencing a high number of customers that call nationally, due to widespread power outages caused by inclement weather.
Eskom further cleared that more resources were secured to ensure and provide prompt resolution to the power outages. The weather service forecast confirmed that the cold front would persist through midweek.
South Africa has also received regular flooding, and scientists say that the climate change is causing heavier rainfall in the region. Meteorologist Lehlohonolo Thobela also warned of all of the strong winds and heavy waves at sea that made navigation difficult for ships, as both Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal are along the coast.
Birthplace of anti-apartheid icon and the freedom fighter – Nelson Mandela has been affected worst by the icy conditions, along with KwaZulu-Natal province. The bad weather has forced the closure of some major roads and passages in the two provinces, avoiding further casualties.
The region has been hit by heavy snow, rain and gale force wind that claimed the lives of people in a road accident, and nearly 500,000 homes were left without electricity.