South Africa is bracing for another bout of severe weather as a series of cold fronts approach, bringing heavy rains, strong winds, and potential flooding to coastal regions, particularly the Western Cape. This comes as communities in the Western Cape are still reeling from a brutal winter storm that has already unleashed chaos, submerging entire areas and displacing thousands.
While the South African Weather Service (Saws) indicates mostly settled winter skies to start the week, with no severe weather alerts currently in place, a shift is expected from Tuesday as a cold front moves in from the Atlantic, initially impacting the Western Cape.
Cloud cover will increase, and rainfall probabilities will rise to 30% in parts of the Northern Cape, Prieska, and De Aar, and up to 40% along the far southwest coast, including Sutherland and surrounding areas. Cooler temperatures will spread inland, accompanied by stronger winds reaching up to 40 km/h along exposed coastal and interior regions.
By Wednesday, July 2, the front is expected to intensify. Scattered showers are likely along the Western and Southern Cape, with rainfall probabilities climbing to 60% in regions like Worcester and parts of the Overberg. Inland, a 30% chance of isolated showers could extend towards the central Karoo and southern interior, affecting towns such as Graaff-Reinet and Beaufort West.
The rest of the country, particularly Gauteng, Mpumalanga, and Limpopo, will remain mostly fine and cold, with only a 10% chance of isolated light rain or drizzle in the northeast. Morning fog patches may develop in low-lying areas, prompting caution for early commuters.
Along the Indian Ocean coastline, including Durban and Richards Bay, conditions will remain cool and windy from Tuesday onward, with isolated showers possible midweek and winds forecast to reach up to 40 km/h. These strong coastal winds may result in choppy seas and pose challenges for small vessels and beachgoers.
Despite the developing cold fronts, no severe impact-based warnings have been issued for the early part of the week. However, residents in the Western Cape and along the south coast are advised to prepare for wet and windy conditions from midweek, as the approaching systems could impact travel plans and outdoor activities.
The approaching weather systems come on the heels of a devastating winter storm that has already ravaged vulnerable communities across the Western Cape, with torrential rains and high winds causing extensive flooding that has damaged hundreds of homes, washed away roads, and displaced thousands of residents.
On 26 June 2025, Gift of the Givers gathered with disaster response teams to deliver humanitarian aid in Saldanha after a powerful storm hit the Western Cape. Middelpos was severely flooded, leading to the evacuation of 600 residents.
One of the hardest-hit areas was Middelpos in Saldanha Bay, which was submerged on Wednesday, according to Ali Sablay from Gift of the Givers. Hundreds of structures were underwater, and 600 people needed assistance. This is just one area where full-scale humanitarian operations began on Thursday, along with Cape Town.
Gift of the Givers delivered hot meals, blankets and warm clothing, baby care packs, essential hygiene and emergency supplies to vulnerable communities hit by the flooding across the Western Cape.
The severe weather, which prompted warnings of disruptive rainfall, damaging winds and heavy snowfall, has triggered a large-scale humanitarian response to assist the hardest-hit communities.
The South African Weather Service (Saws) warned the public and small stock farmers that very cold and windy conditions were expected to continue over the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, southern part of the Northern Cape and in places in the Free State on Friday.
They indicated that isolated to scattered showers and rain were expected over the central and southern parts of the country, but widespread in the southwest.
Snow is also expected on the high-lying areas in the Cape provinces with damaging winds and waves, disruptive rainfall and snow.
For those caught in the deluge, the experience was nothing short of a nightmare. Luvo Cekiso, a 20-year-old resident of Middelpos, found himself waking up to a house full of water. He is now taking shelter with his family at the House of David Church, a space now filled with mattresses and blankets donated for the displaced.
“We have a tavern at my house… I was sleeping as usual. I heard some knocks, but then I ignored them. I thought that someone wanted beer… All along, the knocks were from my cousin, who saw the flooding first… After so many attempts of knocking, trying to wake me up,” said Cekiso.
When he did get up, Cekiso said: “When I took the first steps, that’s when I realised, I’m also in water. That’s when I realised the dining room is affected, the kitchen, the tavern as well, the whole house. I was walking on water, barefoot… It’s [the water] deep… the dishes were floating. Everything was just a mess,” said Cekiso.
He said they immediately rushed to move their belongings and see what could be salvaged. Most of this was electrical appliances, and as they were selling alcohol on the premises, they had to make sure the fridges and cooking appliances were okay.
Cekiso said, “I’m so fortunate because the first time I experienced this, it did not affect me. I just saw my neighbours being affected by the floods. It did not happen in the house. Then the second time, that’s where I got to experience it.”
He was shivering while speaking, wearing only a T-shirt and shorts because that’s all that he had on when he evacuated.
But still, Cekiso said he was fortunate because of his age. He said many younger children and their mothers were floating in the flood on Wednesday.
Cekiso is part of a soccer team coached by Middelpos community leader Arthur Nombewu.
In the wake of severe flooding in Middelpos, Nombewu described a dire situation that, while recurrent, had been particularly devastating this year.
Nombewu said, “What has happened… No one expected it… I remember it was about 4pm when I received a call to say that there were people that had been affected. So we did not waste time and rushed to see what was happening, and we could see that a lot of people were [in the] flooding… What touched me was, there were kids in some of the rooms and in some of the places.”
He and others quickly mobilised, discovering many residents, including children, in flooded homes.
Immediate relief efforts saw the House of David Church open its doors to displaced families, providing temporary shelter. Sea Harvest also contributed by supplying mattresses and blankets for those affected.
However, the crisis is far from over. “I can say there is more that is still stuck inside,” Nombewu said on Wednesday, noting that some residents were hesitant to leave their properties for fear of losing their belongings.
The material damage has been significant, with some families losing everything.
Nombewu recounted the story of a woman who lost all her possessions and had to shelter in a car with her two-year-old son. While no physical injuries have been reported, he was concerned about the health implications of prolonged exposure to floodwater.
With the start of winter, there is significant worry about what lies ahead. “I’m more worried about this winter. I’m really worried because… I’ve never seen something like this in Middelpos,” said Nombewu.
He pointed out that even after the floodwaters recede, which could take up to four days in some places, returning people to the same vulnerable homes would only lead to a repeat of the disaster.
Nombewu attributed the recurring floods to a fundamental drainage problem and criticised the repetitive cycle of temporary solutions, calling for the municipality to investigate and address the root cause. He said that relocating people from the affected area might be the only viable long-term solution.
Nombewu said there was a challenge in the relief efforts as there was much division within the community, with some residents reluctant to accept help due to political affiliations, which slowed down the response.
“If it’s a disaster, it’s affecting everyone. It’s affecting humanity… We as human beings… we need to serve one another,” he said.
Christine Beukes (44), a resident in the Saldanha community, said that the past 24 hours had been a nightmare for her and her family, as well as their neighbours. They had their homes flooded by the stormwater, affecting their clothes, food, furniture and all their belongings.
“It’s painful, but tears don’t help… We had to wait for the rain to stop, and it didn’t stop quickly. When it stopped, we still had to wait for the dump of water to [subside], Your kids can die, that’s how strong the water comes into Middelpos and other areas too,” said Beukes.
Beukes said she first realised the scale of the storm when her husband called out to her that their house was flooding.
“I got up and had to walk through the water… I was scared, because I saw the water coming and I’m thinking, I’ve got kids, how am I going to rescue them because there was a dam of water and it [was] coming strong towards us,” said Beukes.
Beukes had tears in her eyes as she said she felt “locked in” with her four children, who were at home with them.
But she said, “Jesus was with us, I must say, Jesus was with us,” because they were able to escape, despite the strong current.
Saldanha Bay Mayor André Truter addressed the severe flooding in Middelpos, saying that the extreme weather was a clear effect of climate change in a historically dry area.
“This is a low-rainfall area, so our system is not designed like Cape Town to take deluges. This is actually a semi-arid area, so this is unknown to us,” Truter said, noting that such events were now occurring annually.
He pointed out that Middelpos was a “historical problem” as people had settled on a floodplain over the past decade. But community members told Daily Maverick that they had spent years on the housing list, waiting for homes to become available and that they had nowhere else to go.
The recent deluge, which began early on Wednesday morning, caused significant overnight flooding, submerging the settlement. Truter confirmed that the municipality’s disaster management centre was activated to try to reduce the flooding.
A major contributing factor to the flooding in Middelpos, according to Truter, was excessive littering, which clogged the pump system and stormwater trenches.
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