The Matjhabeng Fire Station in Welkom was severely damaged following a tornado that ripped through the area at the weekend.
Image: Welkom City Facebook
The Matjhabeng Local Municipality is busy with mop-up operations after a devastating storm ripped through Welkom at the weekend.
Mayoral spokesperson, Tshediso Tlali, said this resulted in significant damage to critical infrastructure, schools, businesses, and homes.
"Among the affected facilities are the Welkom Fire Station, HTS School, Unitas School, and numerous local businesses and residential properties," he said.
"The municipality extends its heartfelt sympathies to all residents and organisations impacted by this unforeseen natural disaster."
Mop up operations are underway in Welkom following a devastating storm.
Image: Welkom City Facebook page
Emergency response teams have been dispatched to assess the extent of the damage and provide urgent relief where necessary.
The South African Weather Service (Saws) has issued several weather warnings for parts of the country.
The forecaster has issued an Orange Level 8 and Orange Level 6 warning for heavy rainfall in KwaZulu-Natal.
"This will lead to flooding of roads, settlements, damage to infrastructure, displacement of affected communities, major disruption of traffic flow due to major roads being flooded, and washing away of mud-based houses," the forecaster said.
An Orange Level 5 warning of disruptive rain has also been forecast for over Gauteng, south-central parts of Limpopo, the Highveld and escarpment of Mpumalanga, the north-eastern parts of Free State.
A Yellow Level 2 warning for disruptive rain has been forecast over the eastern parts of both Free State and North West, extreme south-eastern parts of the Eastern Cape, north-eastern parts of Mpumalanga, as well as parts of Limpopo, excluding the south-central and extreme north-east.
Saws has also warned that extremely high fire danger conditions are expected over Kareeberg Local Municipality in the Northern Cape
seanne.rall@iol.co.za
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