'Mini-hurricane' hits city

2003-08-18 18:13

Cape Town - Amazed office workers watched as a gale-force wind lift a cast iron table from a 6th-storey balcony and drop it on a balcony below in Green Point on Monday afternoon.

"It was raining heavily, with the wind driving the rain almost horizontally against the windows. Suddenly the table was picked up and hurled onto the balcony below.

"We couldn't believe our eyes. It was like a mini-hurricane, which lasted about 15 seconds," Hinchcliffe said.

A piece of roof also flew off the same office block and landed on a number of motorcycles parked in the street.

"I have never seen a wind like this," Hinchcliffe said.

Traffic

Meanwhile, city traffic chief Alex Lawrence said there were 18 minor accidents reported throughout the unicity since the rain started on Monday. "None of these were serious. About 10 people have been slightly injured." No major accidents have been reported.

He said numerous flashing robots across the city were affecting traffic, but officers were deployed to keep traffic flowing.

By 18:00 no roads had been closed, but several main routes were flooded, the Cape Town traffic department said.

Flooded roads included Table Bay Boulevard, Black River Parkway on the M5 section near Valkenburg bridge, and the M5 at the Ottery turnoff.

Harrington Rd in Simonstown partly collapsed.

Motorists wer advised to switch on their headlights, to drive slowly and to keep a safe following distance.

Jeoff Latskey for disaster management said limited storm damage had been reported.

In Sea Point the windows of a number of older buildings had been blown in. The roofs of six houses in Rondebosch had been blown off.

In Tafelsig several roofs had been blown off, and flooding was reported in Wallacedene.

Rain, wind, snow

WeatherSA forecast widespread rain, strong winds and bitter cold for the Western Cape for the next three days.

Snow is expected on mountains in the western Cape, the southern Cape, Winelands, Breede River Valley, Ruens, Bokkeveld, Little Karoo and Southern Karoo.

Widespread showers are expected to occur over the whole region.

The weather service has issued severe weather warnings of gale force northwesterly winds of up to 65km/h between the Cape Peninsula and Cape Agulhas.

Very rough seas with a total wave height of more than 5m are expected between Cape Columbine and Cape Agulhas, spreading to Plettenberg Bay later.

- News24