Deputy Minister Narend Singh has called on the public to be heedful of severe weather warnings and consider their travel plans

The Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Mr Narend Singh has called on the public to be heedful of severe weather warnings and consider their plans, including travel, carefully. This follows disruptive snowfall which brought the normal way of life to a halt in parts of the country over the last 48 hours and claimed a life.

"We are saddened by the loss of life. One death is one too many. Our hearts go out to the deceased's loved ones and all the members of the public that remain trapped in the snow covering parts of the country, especially the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands," said Deputy Minister Singh.

"It is of paramount importance for the public to normalise checking the weather forecast as they go about planning any outdoor activities including travel and mass events. Such information is disseminated several times each day on traditional and new media platforms to avoid the very dire situation we sadly find ourselves in," added Singh.

Heavy snowfall occurred over the western and southern parts of KwaZulu-Natal and the eastern Free State, among other areas, endangering lives, causing difficult driving conditions and leaving some travelers cut-off. At least one person has been reported dead due to exposure of extremely cold conditions.

Expressing sadness at the loss of life and the plight of travelers who were stranded along N3, the R74, the R617 national and regional roads, among others, Mr Singh said it was critical for the public to seek for weather forecasts and warnings ahead of outdoor activity such as travel in order to stay out of harm's way.

On Wednesday, the South African Weather Service (SAWS), an entity of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, issued a media release alerting the public about expected disruptive snow of 15 to 30cm over parts of the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State and Mpumalanga between Friday, 20 September and Saturday, 21 September 2024.

The SAWS said at the time the snowfall was likely to result in the closure of mountain passes, loss of livestock and crops, and affect major traffic routes including parts of the N3, N5 and N11. The entity added that cold to very cold daytime temperatures of between 8 to 12°C could also be expected over Gauteng and the eastern parts of North West on Saturday, 21 September. The media release was followed by several severe weather warnings.

Deputy Minister Singh said the global Early Warning for All (EW4All) agenda, in terms of which countries of the world are called upon to put measures in place to ensure that everyone on earth is protected from hazardous weather, water, or climate events through lifesaving Early Warning Systems by the end of 2027, will only bear fruit if the public heeds the warnings of authorities such as the SAWS.

The public is advised to follow weather reports on radio and television. More weather information can be accessed through the SAWS's website www.weathersa.co.za, its WeatherSMART APP and social media platforms.

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Peter Mbelengwa
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