A thunderstorm with bright blasts of noise and lightning has rolled through Buffalo City Metro (BCM) dropping hail and sending down thick bursts of rain.
The Port Elizabeth SA Weather Office warned of hail from King William's Town to the northern parts of East London and insurance corporations Discovery and Sanlam sent out SMS notices warning car owners of imminent hail and urging policy-holders to move their vehicles undercover.
Two waves of cloudbursts swept over the region, the last, at 2pm filling gutters and spilling over roads.
At 2pm King William's Town and Bhisho residents were informed about water cuts.
BCM spokesman Sibusiso Cindi said a water pipe burst near the Bhisho water towers.
“Amatola Water have a burst pipe on their pipeline between the pump station and the Bhisho water towers.
This will affect the whole of Bhisho and King William's Town areas,” said Cindi.
A maintenance team was on site doing the repairs which were likely to take "six and 12 hours to complete" because of the large size of the water main, he said.
PE weather office's Garth Sampson said the region was being hit by severe thunderstorms, with the radar showing a 100 percent likelyhood of hail.
He said the storm was 36 000 feet high and hail was being formed by the pressure of air being circulated up and down.
He said a second round of storms were breaking, but would not be as severe as those have just passed through.
It took the storm one hour to travel from Alice to East London.
SAWS spokesman Garth Sampson said the storm moved through to Alice at noon, the hit Bisho 30 minutes later at 12h30 before moving in over East London at 13h00.
Technically, it was described as having a "high reflectivity which is a sure sign of hail".
He said radar information showed that there was a good chance of hail over most of East London area and also slightly south of the city
"The radar went off shortly thereafter… possible power failure with lightning," he said.
"We are tracking with Mthatha radar, but it is on the edge so readings not that accurate
"However we see more cells moving in over the area and we have warnings out until 4pm."
Weather Office warns of hail and heavy rains
The Port Elizabeth SA Weather Office warned of hail from King William's Town to the northern parts of East London and insurance corporations Discovery and Sanlam sent out SMS notices warning car owners of imminent hail and urging policy-holders to move their vehicles undercover.
Two waves of cloudbursts swept over the region, the last, at 2pm filling gutters and spilling over roads.
At 2pm King William's Town and Bhisho residents were informed about water cuts.
BCM spokesman Sibusiso Cindi said a water pipe burst near the Bhisho water towers.
“Amatola Water have a burst pipe on their pipeline between the pump station and the Bhisho water towers.
This will affect the whole of Bhisho and King William's Town areas,” said Cindi.
A maintenance team was on site doing the repairs which were likely to take "six and 12 hours to complete" because of the large size of the water main, he said.
PE weather office's Garth Sampson said the region was being hit by severe thunderstorms, with the radar showing a 100 percent likelyhood of hail.
He said the storm was 36 000 feet high and hail was being formed by the pressure of air being circulated up and down.
He said a second round of storms were breaking, but would not be as severe as those have just passed through.
It took the storm one hour to travel from Alice to East London.
SAWS spokesman Garth Sampson said the storm moved through to Alice at noon, the hit Bisho 30 minutes later at 12h30 before moving in over East London at 13h00.
Technically, it was described as having a "high reflectivity which is a sure sign of hail".
He said radar information showed that there was a good chance of hail over most of East London area and also slightly south of the city
"The radar went off shortly thereafter… possible power failure with lightning," he said.
"We are tracking with Mthatha radar, but it is on the edge so readings not that accurate
"However we see more cells moving in over the area and we have warnings out until 4pm."
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