Niemah Davids, Natasha Prince, Henri Du Plessis and Murray Williams
12 November 2008
A ferocious "black south-easter" has lashed the Cape with heavy rainfall and gale-force winds - knocking over trees and street poles, causing walls to collapse, people to be evacuated and roads to be closed.
And the Weather Office has issued another warning of very windy, cold and wet conditions for parts of the province for the next two days - with the Southern Cape set to be the hardest hit.
At 9am on Wednesday, traffic officials were attending to an overturned car on the outgoing N2, a short distance before the Liesbeek turnoff.
No injuries were reported.
A motorist in Owen Road, Matroosfontein, was not so fortunate when high winds blew over a floodlight pole and crushed his vehicle. The extent of the man's injuries were not known this morning.
On the False Bay coastline, Baden Powell Drive was closed because of sand dunes which had formed on the road.
Earlier on Wednesday traffic spokesperson Merle Lourens reported that traffic officials had assisted vehicles stuck along Baden Powell Drive in Strandfontein during peak hour after an "irresponsible motorist" had removed the cones used to close the road last night.
Elsewhere, trees were blown over in Hertzog Boulevard in front of the Civic Centre and in Kloofnek Road between Constantia and Hugo roads, and a building's wall collapsed in Station Road, Observatory.
Officials attended to faulty traffic lights this morning, while the road between Hermanus and Stanford was closed because of flooding. In Caledon, a number of houses were evacuated as a precaution against flooding.
Motorists have also been urged to be extremely cautious when travelling on the R44 between Gordon's Bay and Rooi Els, because of rock falls on the scenic drive.
Ships in Table Bay have had to take to anchorages, as winds of 30 knots and gusting up to 40 put paid to significant ship movements in and out of port, port control staff have said.
Choppy seas whipped up by the strong wind sent spray flying, and sailors on several ships had to spend the night watching the city lights from afar, rather than step ashore.
Weather forecaster Luthando Masimini has warned that the foul weather is likely to clear up only at the weekend.
He said the amount of wind and rain associated with such a system depended on the intensity of the system and this one was particularly intense.
"It should remain wet and windy today (Wednesday), with rain continuing throughout the day, but the system is moving very slowly eastwards and should start clearing by tomorrow after some morning showers," he said.
"There is a slight chance of morning showers on Friday as well but if they do not appear, Friday should be a completely dry day, as the system would have moved away."
Masimini predicted a wind speed of about 55km/h for certain parts of the city today.
The Weather Office had also issued a warning that "very heavy rain" was due to hit the Southern Cape region as well as the Cape Winelands and the Overberg last night and was expected to continue on Wednesday and Thursday.
"These regions are going to be particularly hard hit with rain," Masimini said.
"Summer is around, but it just hasn't made a proper appearance yet."
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