This image captures an intense cut-off low pressure system moving across Southern Africa on May 5, 2026.
Ultimately, from May 5-7, more than 301 mm (11.9 inches) of rain fell in parts of South Africa’s Garden Route, triggering flooding, evacuations, road closures, and infrastructure damage across the Western and Eastern Cape. At least one person died in Knysna and hundreds were displaced to emergency shelters across flood-affected parts of Nelson Mandela Bay and the Eastern Cape.
The South African Weather Service had issued Orange Level 8 warnings for disruptive rainfall, with potential for flooding, damaging winds, and hazardous coastal conditions.
An intense cut-off low forms when a pocket of cold air in the upper atmosphere becomes separated — or “cut off” — from the main west-to-east flow of the jet stream
