Durban – Heavy rains and hail in KwaZulu-Natal have brought misery to truck drivers using the N2 highway between Pongola and Piet Retief on Friday afternoon.
This after the area received a lot of rain and hail from Tuesday.
Trucks have been filmed dangerously zigzagging on the icy highway as they struggled for traction.
In the video, a fuel tanker can be seen slowly going downhill but the trailer swerves onto the right as it loses traction.
They were no reports of any accidents at the time of publishing but as night approaches, some drivers unaware of the situation may not be as lucky.
SA Weather Service (Saws) on Tuesday warned of heavy rains and cold temperatures for KZN this week.
KZN MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Sipho Hlomuka, said reports from the Saws indicated the cold and wet weather would continue into the weekend.
He also appealed to motorists to drive with caution.
Hlomuka said disaster management teams would be on standby across KZN.
A Saws forecaster said another cold front was expected to move through the province on Thursday and dominate until Saturday.
The forecaster said this cold front would be associated with cool to cold weather, with isolated to scattered showers and thundershowers.
Yesterday, rain fell mainly along the coast and adjacent interior, and was expected again today.
From tomorrow to Friday there was a 60% chance of rain.
“There is a possibility of severe thunderstorms in places over the northern parts of KZN on Thursday and Friday,” said the forecaster.
Strong north-easterly winds of 20-30 knots were expected tomorrow, while strong south to south-westerly winds of 25-35 knots were expected on Thursday.
“There is snow expected over the south-western parts of KZN from Thursday afternoon, extending to the northern Drakensberg by Friday morning.”
The weather is expected to start changing from the western parts of the province by Sunday night, with only a 30% chance of rain expected.
