Abstract
While various extreme wind studies have been undertaken for South Africa for the purpose of, amongst others, developing strong wind statistics, disaster models for the built environment and estimations of tornado risk, a general analysis of the strong wind hazard in South Africa according to the requirements of the National Disaster Management Centre is needed. The purpose of the research was to develop a national profile of the wind hazard in the country for eventual input into a national indicative risk and vulnerability profile. An analysis was undertaken with data from the South African Weather Service’s long-term weather stations to quantify the wind hazard on a municipal scale, taking into account that there are more than 220 municipalities in South Africa. South Africa is influenced by various strong wind mechanisms occurring at various spatial and temporal scales. This influence is reflected in the results of the analyses which indicated that the wind hazard across South Africa is highly variable, spatially and seasonally. A general result was that the strong wind hazard is highest from the southwestern Cape towards the central and eastern parts of the Northern Cape Province, and the southeastern parts of the coast as well as the eastern interior of the Eastern Cape Province. On a seasonal basis, the southern parts of the country showed similar magnitudes of relative wind hazard throughout the year. However, further north, a strong seasonal component was evident, with lowest risk of strong winds during autumn and winter, and highest risk in spring and summer when convective activity is strongest.
Highlights
While various extreme wind studies have been undertaken for South Africa for the purpose of, amongst others, developing statistics and disaster models for the built environment and estimation of tornado risk,[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10] a general analysis of the strong wind hazard in South Africa according to the requirements of the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) is needed
In South Africa, the NDMC is mandated to oversee the implementation of the Disaster Management Act, 200211 and the National Disaster Management Framework 200512 with the objective of inter alia preventing or reducing the risk of disasters, emergency preparedness, rapid and effective response to disasters and post disaster recovery
The NDMC approached the South African Weather Service (SAWS) to quantify a relative windstorm hazard component to form one of three components that would comprise the national indicative risk and vulnerability profile for wind storms in South Africa, in compliance with legislative requirements relating to generating indicative risk and vulnerability profiles
Summary
While various extreme wind studies have been undertaken for South Africa for the purpose of, amongst others, developing statistics and disaster models for the built environment and estimation of tornado risk,[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10] a general analysis of the strong wind hazard in South Africa according to the requirements of the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) is needed. The identification of risk related to various hazards provides the foundation for Disaster Risk Reduction activities aimed at both the prevention and mitigation of disasters and the loss of human lives. The NDMC approached the South African Weather Service (SAWS) to quantify a relative windstorm hazard component to form one of three components that would comprise the national indicative risk and vulnerability profile for wind storms in South Africa, in compliance with legislative requirements relating to generating indicative risk and vulnerability profiles (the other components were vulnerability and capacity). The appropriate quantification of a properly defined hazard is determined by the fact that this quantification will eventually be used in the relative assessment of risk, quantitatively defined as: risk=
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
