Heavy Snowfall In South Africa Cause Major Disruption
The highway connecting Johannesburg and the East Coast City of Durban has been affected with snow and the major road network has been closed down, leading to traffic congestion and delay. Public transportation was also impacted, with some trains and buses unable to operate.
Emergency services have been working to reach out to those in their vehicles but it is still unclear as to how many were affected and the condition they were in. N3 Toll Concession operations manager Thania Dhoogra told the ENCA broadcaster.
“Emergency services have been working flat out through the night. They have been attempting to reach as many road users as they can,”
Road Traffic Management Corporation communications officer Simon Zwane told a News source that buses travelling between provinces have been stuck at petrol stations for around seven hours as trucks have been parked by the roadside since Friday.
The South African Weather Service mentioned to the media that the abnormal weather had caught many off guard causing major challenges for transportation, infrastructure, and daily life.
Netizens reactions
@AnnetteCarolanFourie commented “This year woe SA certainly made history with the crazy extra cold winter”
@madeinquevanwyk reacted “I have never heard of snow inSA so late in spring. Last week, it was 36° here and we are hitting the thirties again next week. This just feels like some wild detour and I don’t even know how the weather and atmosphere circumstances changed enough to have it happen”
@ruglukall commented “When countries are controlling the weather in their region, it has an effect in other regions. Can’t look past that”
@alexandrachristokat4473 commented “South Africa is the new Alaska”
@tafarapaul also commented “people take weather warning lightly because they think it’s bluff”
@durbanbrooklyn also commented “And people still say there is no climate change … this amount of snow in Africa is unheard of … I’m South African living in New York and this looks more like the day I dread here in the USA. Stay safe”
