Catastrophic rains on Christmas Eve led to key infrastructure damage in western parts of country

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.