Catastrophic rains and flash floods in South Africa have led to at least six deaths, with more people still missing. The western parts of the country have experienced extremely unsettled weather over the last few days, with frequent spells of heavy rain.
On Christmas Eve the city of Ladysmith to the north-east of Lesotho experienced flash flooding after a sudden deluge during the evening. Amateur weather stations in the area suggested about 60mm of rain fell within an hour, while in a three-hour period there was about 80mm of rainfall. The average rainfall in Ladysmith for the whole of December is just over 100mm.
There was significant damage to infrastructure in the area, with one house and several vehicles swept away. Three vehicles were travelling on a major highway at the time and were washed away when a nearby river burst its banks, with water then flowing on to the road. One of these was a minibus carrying nine people, three of whom were later found dead inside, while the other six remain missing. In total, six deaths have so far been confirmed because of the floods, with search and rescue teams currently searching for 10 more people.
Conditions remain unsettled in the region, with heavy rain and thunderstorms on Boxing Day disrupting a cricket test match between South Africa and India. However, while rain and showers in western parts are expected to turn lighter over the coming days, central parts of South Africa are expected to experience significant heavy rain, with the potential for further intense showery downpours.
Meanwhile, Vancouver has had stormy weather over the Christmas period that resulted in ferry cancellations and considerable power outages. During Christmas Eve stormy conditions occurred across northern areas of Vancouver with gusts exceeding 100km/h (62mph) for northern Vancouver Island overnight into Christmas Day. This resulted in power outages affecting about 8,000 on the island early on Tuesday, while a further 2,500 were affected by a power outage in Saanich. The winds were so strong that ferries had to be cancelled, and some are still not running. Further strong winds are still expected, with gusts potentially reaching up to 120km/h on Vancouver Island before easing.
