Icy weather sets in

2006-07-24 09:05

Michelle O'Connor

Cape Town - Widespread snow, rain and cold weather over large parts of the Western Cape held residents in its icy grip at the weekend.

Heavy snowfalls over the Boland mountains on Saturday turned the area into a winter wonderland, and residents were warned to steel themselves against more rain and cold.

Snow of up to 500mm covered the mountains near Ceres on Saturday and roads between Ceres, Touws River and Calvinia in the Koue Bokkeveld were hastily closed to traffic.

Lynette Burger, weather forecaster at the Cape weather office, said on Sunday these weather conditions were normal for this time of year.

"The bad weather over the city and the rest of the province will clear somewhat on Monday.

"A cold front will move past the country to the south on Tuesday. No rain is expected.

Boost for fruit farmers

"A second cold front will bring more rain over the Peninsula on Wednesday night, which will spread over the adjacent inland areas.

Burger said rainy conditions would clear by Thursday. Capetonians would, however, remain in an icy grip until the end of the week.

According to Erik Conradie from the Du Toit group in Ceres, the snow had given the fruit farmers a boost.

"It prolonged the cold season, which indicates a good fruit season."

Gideon van Niekerk from Ceres said the snow was welcome since it replenished the area's water sources.

Nia Coetzee reported that residents of Ladismith flocked to Vleiland on Sunday where the heaviest snowfall in 60 years had occurred. "The town also received about 50mm of rain over the weekend." "Die dorp het die afgelope naweek ook sowat 50 mm reën gekry."

Eskom almost at full strength

According to the SA weather office, the province's expected maximum temperature would remain below 20° on Monday. Vredendal would be the warmest place with 21°.

Meanwhile, the process to switch of Unit 2 at Koeberg back on again has already started. Jacob Maroga, Eskom's managing director for transmission, said the step-by-step process to switch on the unit had already started.

"The unit, which was switched off in May for essential maintenance, would only have been switched on at the end of next week.

"The necessary tests and inspections to determine whether the unit can be switched on again have now been finalised.

"The various parameters that have to be maintained to complete the switching on process, are in place," he said.

According to Maroga the unit would be fully operational by the end of next week, and would by then be able to provide full power to the national network.

"Unit 1 is still fully operational after it caused problems earlier this year. Eskom doesn't foresee any technical problems in the immediate future," he said.

He did, however, warn Capetonians to use electricity sparingly this week.

"The cold front and bad weather might have a sudden increase in the province's electricity consumption, which in turn might lead to controlled power breaks."

He once again praised Capetonians for the manner in which they had been saving energy over the past few months.

- Die Burger