Africa-Press – South-Africa. Heavy rainfall is expected to continue over the Central Karoo District Municipality, which authorities believe will continue to impact parts of the Garden Route District Municipality.
Meiringspoort pass was closed on Thursday night until midday on Friday morning, with several trucks reportedly stuck in mud after severe thunderstorms and flash floods in the area.
Gerhard Otto, of the Garden Route’s disaster management, said teams were busy cleaning the road.
Otto said that, by Friday morning, the road was closed due to flash floods, and it was only opened by midday.
The South African Weather Service warned that flash floods, as a result of heavy rains and thundershowers in the area, were expected to get worse.
“These thunderstorms may produce heavy downpours of approximately 20 to 30mm per hour within a short period of time.”
The spokesperson for the Oudtshoorn Local Municipality, Aurelia Mle, said: “The Meiringspoort pass is usually closed following heavy rains as it is too dangerous for anyone to drive through, as was the case this morning.”
The spokesperson for Oudtshoorn’s Fire, Rescue and Disaster Management, Adel Supra-Vertue, said damage to infrastructure was limited.
“There was damage to only four houses in De Rust, where the water went through the houses. Other than that, no damages at all. The cleaning crew are hard at work cleaning up the debris,” she said.
“We received a new weather warning that may have considerable influence later on in Meiringspoort and we are still waiting on the percentages of rainfall for yesterday (Thursday).”
According to the South African Weather Service, rainfall in Oudtshoorn for the last 24 hours was measured at 6mm, with Laingsburg measuring at 22m and Prince Albert at 14mm.
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