Howling winds hurt at least 8
2008-08-30 18:29
Johannesburg - Eight people were injured and at least 14 veldfires had to be put out as strong winds blasted parts of the country on Saturday.
Seven people were injured when the roof blew off a Pick n Pay supermarket in Cape Town.
And in Vryheid, in KwaZulu-Natal, a seven-year-old child needed stitches when a tent was blown over by winds at a function attended by four MECs and thousands of other people.
MECs Ina Cronjé, Amichand Rajbansi, Nelisiwe Nkonyeni and Mike Mabuyakhulu had been launching various social projects when a "freak" wind lifted the tent and then collapsed it.
Nobody other than the little girl was hurt.
"We are immensely relieved that everyone is safe," said Cronjé, the Education MEC.
"We also want to thank the police, marshals and paramedics for their quick reaction and assistance to check for injuries and to secure people's possessions that were trapped underneath the tent," Cronjé said.
Runaway fire warning
The organisation Working on Fire said it had responded to 14 veldfires by Saturday afternoon, battling with the strong winds as volunteers tried to douse flames, and reiterated a runaway fire warning issued earlier by the SA Weather Service.
A fire burning in the Free State destroyed at least 4 000ha and jumped the road between Bethlehem and Warden.
But Malcolm Proctor, control forester for Department of Water Affairs and Forestry said fire-fighters appeared to have stopped it.
"They seem to be on top of it," he said.
There were no reports of injuries.
Working on Fire said the Lowveld, the Escarpment and the Free State were at risk and urged the public to very cautious when making a fire, and for landowners to be prepared for a fire to start.
Winds to start dropping on Sunday
Weather forecaster Wisani Maluleke said the current low pressure system was being pushed by a high pressure system coming behind it, causing the strong winds.
"It's not a good idea to go camping, your tent will get blown away," he said.
He added that light aircraft would also experience turbulence.
The winds would continue throughout Saturday and would start to drop on Sunday.
The SA Weather Service said gale force westerly winds (65km/h) could be expected in places over the Western Cape with strong-gale to storm strength winds (in excess of 80km/h) expected along the Western Cape Coast, south of Cape Point and spreading to East London on Sunday.
Seven metre swells
"Very rough seas with destructive waves in excess of 7m, coinciding with spring high tides, are expected along the Western Cape coast, spreading to Durban by Sunday evening," it warned.
NSRI extreme caution
The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) sent out an extreme caution advisory, saying boaters should not launch to go to sea unless it is absolutely necessary and seafarers should wear their life-jackets at all times and exercise extreme caution.
This applied to paddlers, bathers, surfers and anglers. The NSRI also warned of floating logs in the sea.
Heavy rain
Heavy rain was also expected in places in the western parts of the Western Cape on Saturday night, said the SA Weather Service.
Very cold, wet and windy conditions are expected for the western parts of the Western and Northern Cape by Saturday night, spreading north and east to include the southern high grounds of the Northern Cape and the interior of the Eastern Cape by Sunday.
And, bringing Spring in with an icy blast, snow is expected over the western high ground of the Western Cape as well as the south-western high ground of the Northern Cape overnight into Sunday morning which will cause extremely cold conditions.
- SAPA