Riverwell Residents Association workers help clean flood damage, including a crushed palisade fence and collapsed garden wall, on the Dolfhout Street bridge over the Klein Jukskei in Weltevreden Park, 6 March 2025, after heavy rains caused massive flooding across north-western Joburg yesterday. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen
The vicious thunderstorm which hit northern Johannesburg on Wednesday afternoon, causing widespread flooding, infrastructure damage and power outages, is classified officially as a cloudburst.
But predicting one of these with accuracy is almost impossible with current technology, says a weather expert.
Vox Weather meteorologist Michelle du Plessis said the storm that hit Johannesburg and surrounding areas was not a supercell, but a cloudburst.
“A cloudburst is defined as 10cm (100mm) or more of rainfall within one hour, leading to rapid water accumulation.
This explains why areas such as Johannesburg, including Roodepoort, Krugersdorp, Sandton, and Kempton Park, recently experienced extreme rainfall,” she said…