Biggest storm is yet to come
2009-06-24 08:13
Cape Town – The last in a series of cold fronts that have hit the Western Cape since Monday, will arrive on Thursday and is expected to bring the worst weather of the week, says meteorologist Byron Drew.
“Although no cold front is expected to hit the Western Cape on Wednesday, it will still rain heavily and the wind speed will increase,” he said on Tuesday.
“The most rain is expected on Thursday. It should rain in the whole province, although the southwestern part of the Western Cape will be affected the most.”
More than 20mm of rain fell on several places along the West Coast, the Swartland and in Cape Town on Tuesday morning.
Dams full
Due to the rain, Cape Town’s dams are also full, with the new Berg River Dam in Franschhoek being more than 100% full.
National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) spokesperson Craig Lambinon said two witnesses said they thought they saw a man jump from a lobster boat into the water at Hout Bay at about 16:00 on Tuesday, but the NSRI, police and rescue services launched a search without finding anything.
“We found the lobster boat, but nothing else. We are monitoring the situation.”
Swells of 9m are expected at Cape Point on Wednesday.
Snow
Drew said that snow could fall on higher lying regions of the western and northern Cape.
By Tuesday afternoon, it was still too overcast to see whether it had snowed in Ceres, said Didi Greef of the Matroosberg Nature Reserve.
“Everything is still covered by clouds, but it feels good and cold enough for snow.”
Despite the wet roads, senior Cape Town traffic official Moegamat Mustapha and provincial traffic spokesperson Xenophone Wentzel, said there had been no serious accidents that resulted in people being killed, apart from an accident on Tuesday morning where a road worker was hit and killed by a Bellville taxi.
No evacuations
Wilfred Solomons-Johannes, spokesperson for the city’s disaster management, said 868 people living in 100 shacks were experiencing discomfort late on Tuesday afternoon, but no-one had yet been evacuated.
Drew said the weather would begin clearing up after Thursday. “The good news is that we will have a sunny weekend.”
- Reporting by Marlene Neethling, Shantel Moses and Janine Fortuin