Three people were found dead after they were trapped in snow in Mount Fletcher in the Eastern Cape, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Wednesday.
”Today’s [Wednesday] freezing weather in the area is probably the cause of their death.”
Roads in parts of Mount Fletcher and between Matatiele and Quaggasnek — the road connecting the Eastern Cape and Lesotho — were also closed to traffic, Arrive Alive said.
Earlier on Wednesday, spokesperson Tshepo Machaea said Matatiele was one of the areas most affected by the snow.
”Rural areas in Matatiele are not accessible at all. We are not sure when the roads there will be opened.”
Disaster teams in the Eastern Cape were on Wednesday battling to clear roads of snow that fell overnight in Barkly East and Elliot, Arrive Alive said.
”The snow has formed hard ice. It’s terrible, it can’t break,” said Arrive Alive spokesperson Tshepo Machaea.
He said the R58 between Barkly East and Elliot would be closed to traffic until the road was cleared.
He warned that roofs of houses and businesses in the two areas were in danger of collapsing under the weight of snow.
Elliot was plunged into darkness on Tuesday night after a loud explosion, possibly from a substation, was heard.
Machaea also warned motorists in the northern parts of the province to drive cautiously as rock falls had been reported.
He said snow had been cleared off the N9 between Middelburg and Graaff-Reinet and the R61 between Cradock and Graaff-Reinet.
”Those roads are now open. Motorists are being allowed back onto them,” said Machaea.
The N2 between Mount Ayliff and Kokstad had also been re-opened, although the road was still ”very slippery”, he said.
The emergency services manager of the Alfred Ndzo district in the Eastern Cape, Siphiwe Ndlobeni, said it had stopped snowing in Kokstad, allowing disaster teams to speed up efforts to clear roads.
”The weather is clearing. Roads are being cleared of snow and the road at Brooks Nek has been opened,” said Ndlobeni.
He said the road between Kokstad and Franklin would be opened to traffic in the afternoon.
Earlier this month, floods caused by torrential rains claimed at least six lives in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. — Sapa