KZN weather service lifts storm alerts as mudslides displace three Durban families

Three families in Tshelimnyama, west of Durban, are dealing with the aftermath of mudslides after severe storms moved through KwaZulu-Natal, and no deaths have been reported.

The South African Weather Service had placed several regions of the province under level four and level six weather alerts as the system passed through. Those alerts have since been lifted.

eNCA reported the mudslides and the displacement of the three households on Friday afternoon, and the weather service’s warning levels for the province.

What the warnings meant

Level four and level six alerts are not the same thing. A level four warning tells residents that disruptive weather is expected and that they should be ready to act. A level six warning is more serious, and it tells people in the affected areas that they should be prepared to move if conditions worsen.

The weather service issues those levels based on rainfall intensity, the state of the ground, and the risk of flooding and landslips in specific districts. The alerts covered several KwaZulu-Natal regions rather than the whole province.

The families in Tshelimnyama

Tshelimnyama sits west of Durban, in an area where heavy rain on steep ground can turn into a mudslide quickly. Three households have been affected, and the immediate priority for the province is to make sure the families have somewhere safe to stay and that no one is left on ground that could move again.

No fatalities have been reported, which is the most important fact in this story. The province has been through severe weather events before, and the response this time has kept the human cost down to displaced households rather than lives lost.

What happens next

The weather service has lifted the alerts for the province, which means the immediate threat from this system has passed. The work now is the clean-up and the assessment of the ground around Tshelimnyama, and the support that the three affected families need in the days ahead.

Residents in KwaZulu-Natal should continue to watch weather service bulletins, because the province’s storm season is not over and a lifted alert is not a guarantee of clear weather for the rest of the month.

Source: eNCA, Severe storms hit KZN