W Cape battered by storms
2009-06-25 07:29
Cape Town - The Matroosberg is covered with snow, students are trapped on an island, barges have run aground, vehicles float around on water with wailing alarms, electricity poles are blown over and power cuts abound.
These are the results of heavy storms which have been wreaking havoc in the Western Cape since Monday.
The worst of a series of cold fronts was predicted for Wednesday night and Thursday morning. The weather should finally start to clear up by late Thursday or Friday.
According to Derek van Dam, meteorologist and head of e.tv's weather service, several places can once again expect rainfall of over 50mm within 24 hours.
Snow
On Wednesday, snow fell on the high-lying parts of the province, said Van Dam. The Matroosberg at Ceres was covered by a blanket of snow by Wednesday afternoon, but the snow hasn't reached as far down as the road, said Didi Greef, marketing manager of the Matroosberg nature reserve.
The wind will still be at gale-force strength on Thursday, and waves of up to 7.5m are expected. Swells of 9m raged along the coast on Wednesday.
Stormy conditions at sea kept the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) busy across the province.
The NSRI delivered food parcels to the 25 students from the Afda film school, who are shooting a documentary on Dassen island near Yzerfontein. They were supposed to return on Tuesday, but have now been forced to wait for the weather to subside.
According to Robben Island spokesperson Shalo Mbatha, island residents haven't been able to return to the mainland since Monday. No tourists were able to visit the island this week.
"The waves here are enormous and the wind has blown down trees and damaged roofs. The back road has also been washed away," she said.
Vessels run aground
An unmanned barge, the Margaret, ran aground at about 08:10 at Jacobs Bay, while another unmanned vessel, the GTO XVII, which was carrying metal containers and machinery, ran aground near Brenton-on-Sea at 07:41.
"The barge is stuck on rocks about 40m into the sea, near Brenton-on-Sea. We won't be risking human lives to save the barge or its cargo," said Graeme Harding of the NSRI's Knysna office.
Meanwhile, the Groot River estuary at Nature's Valley flooded, and the water dammed up about half a metre deep in the campsite, said Henry de Freitas from the NSRI in Plettenberg Bay.
Holidaymakers were rescued from the flooded caravan park, but the NSRI could do nothing but watch helplessly as five vehicles floated about on the water with wailing alarms.
"We couldn't remove the vehicles, since they belong to hikers who left their vehicles here."
Sanparks staff reached the 29 hikers by foot on Wednesday, to warn them about sea and weather conditions along the Otter Trail, which runs for 45km between the Storms River estuary to Nature's Valley.
Power out in Cape Town
In the Cape metropolis, various suburbs had no electricity on Wednesday due to the bad weather.
City of Cape Town spokesperson Charles Cooper said gale-force winds caused serious damage when branches and trees were blown onto power lines.
By late Wednesday afternoon, Pinelands, Observatory, Tamboerskloof, Maitland and Paarden Eiland's electricity supply had not been restored.
Van Dam said that after Thursday's storm, the next cold front should only hit Cape Town by late next week.
- Have any storm photographs? Send them to photos@news24.com
- Reporting by Marlene Neethling, Tisha Steyn and Nikky Oosthuizen
