Is this question relevant? The SAWDOS is of the opinion that South Africans are definitely left vulnerable before and during severe weather. After severe weather happened Disaster Management and others private organizations step in to alleviate the plight of those effected.
Yesterday afternoon two people died and several were injured as a result of severe weather in the Free State. The extent of the storm damage are still being assessed but from reports received houses, boats and a jetty were destroyed or damaged as a result of "tornadoes" moving through the Reitz, Bethlehem and Deneysville areas in the Free State.
The SA Weather Service issued several severe weather warnings on 22 June 2012 which were valid for 23 June 2012 up to 16h00. The SAWS warn of severe thunderstorms in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Free State and Kwazulu Natal. However no warning was issued for the period 16h00 to 24h00 on the 23 June 2012 during their afternoon updates. In other words no severe thunderstorm warnings were issued from 16h00 to 24h00. A critical flaw as severe thunderstorms were experienced in this period. One would have expected that they would have extended their severe weather warnings in yesterday afternoon's update.
Another most concerning factor that contribute to the vulnerability of South Africans before and during severe thunderstorms is the lack of detailed real time weather radar images. The SAWDOS raised this issue before in several posts and also wrote a letter to the SA Weather Service. Nearly 4 months later and we have still not received a reply from the SA Weather Service. The SAWDOS on many occasions in the past and present expressed it's concern and disappointment with the decision of the SA Weather Service to withdraw the availability of free static and detailed weather radar images to the general public. The SAWDOS is feeling so strongly about the fact that free detailed weather radar images must be available to the general public that it used several media platforms to express it's concern. Readers of the SAWDOS blog also responded and voiced their concern and dismay via email messages, while others commented via the media and social media.
Unfortunately the requests of the public has fallen on deaf ears. The SAWDOS still maintain that the SAWS has an obligation under the constitution of this country to make all weather information available free of charge to members of the public to keep them informed about impeding severe weather and storms. The current static storm map displayed on the SAWS web-site is inaccurate and respectfully serve no other purpose than to indicate that there is storm activity in a specific province.
Yesterday afternoon this storm map was down and did not display info. The SAWDOS has studied this map against real time storm observations and have come to the conclusion that there is nearly a 30 – 45 minute time difference in storm locations. In other words the storm map serves no purpose to warn the public of impeding storms and severe weather. The SAWS storm map does not reflect the intensity and real time position of storms making it a useless tool in the event of severe weather.
The SAWDOS is of the opinion that Weather and Weather Radar information should be free of charge to any member of the public, rich or poor. If you look at the USA, New Zealand and Australia you can get info from top to bottom free of charge. You can even get South African weather charts free from the USA. However here in South Africa we must PAY for lifesaving weather information.
Once again we have severe thunderstorms and tornadoes and still the people of this country have no free access to weather radars. Two people died yesterday.....how many more people must die just because they have no free access to weather radar images and weather information in this country? I do not have anything against the Government or the SAWS. Someone took a stupid genocide decision to let people pay for weather radar images and weather information.
The decision to remove detailed static radar images from the public domain is totally contrarily to the fundamental objectives of weather organizations in most world countries where the aim is to provide the maximum amount of real-time accurate data to the widest range of their citizens free of charge. SAWS rather follow the commercial route instead and leave the public vulnerable to severe weather.
As far as limited access to certain general weather information is concerned one should ask whether the current limited information/data provided by the SA Weather Service is sufficient in protecting lives and property. The recent severe weather events in the past months indicated that the limited free weather information on their web-site is far from adequate to keep the public sufficiently informed. The comments section on the web-site is a good reflection of the current unhappiness of the public in this regard. (Noted that some complaints by the public were removed for some reason.)
The SAWDOS can take the layback approach and watch from the sideline but who suffers the most during severe weather? The poorest of the poor and that is one of the reasons why the SAWDIS was established in 2008. The SAWDOS will always have compassion for the poorest of the poor as the founder of the SAWDOS grew up amongst the poorest of the poor in the former Transkei area. This is the reason why the SAWDOS associate with several relief organizations to assist the general public when severe weather or a disaster cause havoc and destruction. References of such events are to be found on the SAWDIS and SAWDOS Blogs in abundance.
Being a non profitable and free community based organization and the fact that all weather data must be freely available to any member of the public, the SAWDOS and the majority of citizens in South Africa is not willing to pay for radar images or any other weather data. A solution to solve the current unhappiness by members of the public would be to make detailed static weather radar images and other weather data freely available to the general public as was the case before April 2010.
The SAWDOS and the public of South Africa would like to once again request the SA Weather Service to re-consider their decision in forcing the public to pay for weather radar information and other weather information and data. We respectfully request that free detailed weather radar images and critical weather information and data be made available to the general public free of any charges.
The SAWDOS hereby plea to politicians and parliamentarians on behalf of the general public to investigate the lack of free detailed radar images in South Africa. How many more people must die? We know that there will be deaths during severe weather but lives can be saved by making free detailed radar images available to the general public.
The current lack of detailed free weather radar images leave the public most vulnerable before and during severe thunderstorms in South Africa.
Johan Terblanche
Founder: SA Weather and Disaster Observation Service
Mossel Bay
24 June 2012
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