BREAKING NEWS: More than 1,800 vehicles stuck during monster snowstorm, two deceased

HARRISMITH – Over the weekend, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and Eastern Cape experienced a major drop in temperatures. Cars, buses and trucks became stuck in heavy snow on Friday in the east of the country with the key N3 route linking Johannesburg and the east coast city of Durban one of the roads most severely affected. It was reported that over 1,800 vehicles were stuck on the N3 that has since been opened.

The death toll from the KwaZulu-Natal snowstorm has also risen to two. A 39-year-old woman died from hypothermia in hospital on Saturday after spending Friday night stuck in one of scores of vehicles trapped in unusually heavy snowfall with traffic that was backed up for around 30 kilometers early Sunday, nearly two days after the first people were stranded, authorities said. Both people died of hypothermia in the Midlands area.

The travelers had been stopped near the town of Mooiplaas about 430 kilometers from Johannesburg. Recovery operations were continuing under extremely challenging conditions Sunday with a backlog around Van Reenen’s Pass in the Drakensberg mountains, said the N3 Toll Concession which manages the route.

Cars were being escorted out of the area but abandoned and broken-down vehicles, some of which were four abreast, were making it difficult for road graders to clear the snow and for search and rescue teams to reach people that were stranded. The authorities have not yet been able to say how many people or vehicles were in total stranded on the roads by the snow.