Cape Town hit by heavy rain
2008-09-09 09:34
Rozanne Els and Shantel Moses
Cape Town - Capetonians had to pull out their umbrellas again on Monday, when strong rains turned the Western Cape into a wet, grey landscape.
Residents of Cape Town's informal settlements battled to keep their homes and possessions dry.
Charlotte Powell, spokesperson for the City of Cape Town's Disaster Management, said affected areas had been given assistance. Warm food and blankets were distributed to Kosovo, Grassy Park and Pholapark.
She said clean-up operations had already begun.
Mfikeleli Hoko, who has been living in Kosovo in Phillippi for four years, was digging ditches to get the water out of the home he shares with his three children. "What else can we do?" he asked.
Wet roads
Motorists had to be careful on the wet roads.
By Monday afternoon, at least 10 accidents had been reported, said Inspector Andries Kiewiets of the provincial traffic department. The accidents were mostly on the R300 and the N2 heading into the city.
In one accident, 30 people were lightly injured when two buses collided near the Bunga turnoff on the N2, after one bus apparently turned in front of the other.
No one died in the accidents.
While some farmers were happy about the rain, others wished away the wet conditions.
Graham Retief of the farm Du Pont in Porterville, said they had now had enough of the cold, wet weather. Retief, who grows grapes, said apart from work being disrupted by the rain, there was now a risk of several diseases breaking out.
However, Koos Loubser of the farm Altona in Durbanville, who grows mainly wheat, said the rainy weather was "wonderful".
"A cool September is very important for us. We are in big trouble if it does not rain."
According to the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, the average water level of the Cape Town dams was 102.26%. This included Wemmershoek (100%), the Berg River dam (101.26%) and Theewaterskloof (103.85%).
Rian Smit of the Cape Weather Office warned that continuous rain would cause flooding in lower lying areas in the Cape metropole and Boland.
Very cold, wet and windy conditions are expected in the western higher lying regions of the Western and Northern Cape on Tuesday.