This comes after four workers died, while five were hospitalised, yesterday following lightning strikes on a farm in Upington. The weather bureau is urging citizens to, in instances of heavy rains and thunder, seek shelter indoors when they hear thunder roaring. 

The weather service says it's important for residents to know the differences between normal and severe storms so they are able to take appropriate action when necessary. “In normal thunderstorms, there's lightening, wind and showers. Furthermore, the pooling on roads may cause slippery roads. In normal thunderstorms, the hail diameter is always less than 19 millimetres and falls in small amounts. In contrast, severe storms have high wind speeds of up to 100 km/p, heavy downpours which result in reduced visibility on roads, severe lighting, flash floods as well as large amounts of hail, said to be over 19 millimetres in diameter. In extreme cases, there are also tornadoes,” the weather authority said on its Twitter page.

It issues this warning ahead of thundershowers which will over the next few days be observed in the central and eastern interior of South Africa.

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