[imagesource: Janet Ashcroft / Storm Report SA / Facebook]
As a storm spread over large parts of Gauteng on Monday, Johannesburg was pummelled by massive hailstones, strong winds, and heavy rain.
The South African Weather Service (SAWS) had issued a level five warning for Jozi, cautioning residents about localised flooding, large amounts of hail, and excessive lightning that could be expected.
A level two warning for severe thunderstorms was also in place for parts of the country including KwaZulu-Natal, per The South African.
Indeed, the heavens delivered, sending dramatic ice balls down from the sky across the region.
The Citizen shared footage from people battered by the hailstorm in Jozi, which wreaked pure havoc in gardens and neighbourhoods.
Richard in Randpark shared a post about the chaos in his garden, captioning his post, “Well that was drastic”:
Dwayne in Randburg also shared how his garden was being ripped to shreds:
@SAWeatherServic hailstorm from hell ripped through our place in Randburg pic.twitter.com/bsbWoi93RR
— Dwayne (@000deez000) December 5, 2022
It looks hectic, to say the least:
Watch : Hailstorm in Randburg, #Johannesburg #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/uogth7xBWM
— Melini Moses (@melinimoses) December 5, 2022
Eloise sent Storm Report SA pictures of interesting hailstones that fell in Alberton:
Anneli showed what the storm looked like over Northcliff:
JJ Pietersen showed how a road in Berario became blocked by fallen trees:
#flashflood #Joburgstorm Causing Havoc in the hood 😫 @Radio702 @CityofJoburgZA #Northcliff #Berario #Fairlands pic.twitter.com/61dcZcxsqh
— JJ Pietersen (@jjpietersen) December 5, 2022
Someone else also shared a similar photo, complete with flooding:
The hailstorm even caused trees to fall on a carport in Grayston, Johannesburg:
Trees were uprooted all over the show:
The Citizen also reported that the severe thunderstorm damaged electricity infrastructure across the city and plunged some areas into darkness.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said, “the heavy storms …[sic] has uprooted poles, flooded transformer chambers, uprooted trees which fell on electricity lines and overhead cables”.
Apparently, the Main Delta Intake substation also tripped, causing an outage that affected several suburbs in central, western, and southern Joburg.
City Power said that their “teams are doing everything in their power to respond to the outage calls and to ensure there is minimal disruption to power supply”.
A taxi rank on Katherine Road in Sandton filled with water and bins were sent cruising down flooded streets:
A real South African story.
Dustbin steals itself.
Heavy rain in Randburg Ridge.@TheFarEastFiles @Pheaga1 @Houtkruis70x71 @MambaBroodryk pic.twitter.com/dGqsRNsIs0— SA REPORTS (@MARIUSBROODRYK) December 5, 2022
And the lightning was pretty spectacular, too:
According to Vox Weather, similar weather can be expected today and tomorrow as severe thunderstorms take on Limpopo, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, and Free State.
Duck for cover everyone, those hailstones are intent on doing major damage.
