{"id":873807,"date":"2026-09-04T09:25:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T07:25:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=873807"},"modified":"2026-09-04T09:27:02","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T07:27:02","slug":"severe-weather-warning-escalated-to-level-5-for-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/873807\/severe-weather-warning-escalated-to-level-5-for-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Severe weather warning escalated to level 5 for South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The South African Weather Service (SAWS) has escalated its severe weather warning to an Orange Level 5 for parts of South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service warns of dangerous thunderstorms, damaging winds, flooding and rough seas expected across several provinces on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most serious conditions are forecast for the east-central parts of the Northern Cape, where SAWS has issued an Orange Level 5 warning for severe thunderstorms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These storms could cause flooding of settlements, roads and bridges, while damaging winds and large hail may result in property damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Falling trees, excessive lightning and disruptions to municipal services are also possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A broader Yellow Level 4 warning for severe thunderstorms is in place across the central and eastern Northern Cape, western Free State, extreme western parts of North West and southern KwaZulu-Natal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Residents in these areas have been warned of possible localised flooding, damaging winds, hail, falling trees and excessive lightning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rainfall probabilities range between 60% and 80% in the most affected regions, with the highest chances of rain expected over the central interior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SAWS has also issued several warnings relating to damaging winds. A Yellow Level 4 warning covers parts of the western Northern Cape, central and northeastern Western Cape, and most of KwaZulu-Natal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strong winds in these areas could cause structural damage, flying debris and disruptions to utility services. High-sided vehicles may also face dangerous crosswinds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A separate Yellow Level 4 warning for damaging winds has been issued along the KwaZulu-Natal coast, where rough sea conditions could similarly affect shipping and harbour activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Yellow Level 2 warning for damaging waves is also in place for the KwaZulu-Natal coastline. Other parts of the country remain at risk of disruptive weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Yellow Level 2 warning for damaging winds covers the western and southern parts of the Western Cape, northwestern Eastern Cape and southern and central Mpumalanga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thunderstorms expected <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Severe thunderstorms are also possible in the eastern Free State, central and eastern North West, southern Gauteng and southwestern Mpumalanga, where a Yellow Level 2 warning has been issued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eastern parts of the Eastern Cape face a Yellow Level 2 warning for disruptive rainfall, with localised flooding possible in affected areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the widespread wet conditions, SAWS has warned of extremely high fire danger in parts of the eastern Free State, eastern North West and central and northern Limpopo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The weather service has also issued several advisories, warning of wet and windy conditions across much of KwaZulu-Natal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Very cold conditions are possible in parts of the Eastern Cape, while very cold, wet and windy weather is expected in places over Namakwa and the interior of the Western Cape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gauteng will begin the day partly cloudy before conditions become increasingly cloudy. The province is expected to be cool to warm, with scattered showers and thundershowers forecast in places and a 60% chance of rain in affected areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Residents have been warned to remain alert for lightning, gusty winds and localised heavy downpours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mpumalanga will also experience cloudy conditions, particularly from the south during the afternoon. Isolated showers and thundershowers are expected, becoming scattered over the south-western parts of the province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SAWS urged South Africans to remain weather-aware and take all warnings seriously, particularly in areas affected by severe thunderstorms, flooding, strong winds and dangerous coastal conditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The South African Weather Service (SAWS) has escalated its severe weather warning to an Orange Level 5 for parts of South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":763011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2095775602963800357","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2195462861274113","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18105677408185764","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[26401,21788],"class_list":["post-873807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-level-5-warning","tag-the-south-african-weather-service-saws"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873807"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":873809,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873807\/revisions\/873809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}