'Please, I need everyone to stay safe out there,' pleads Western Cape Premier Alan Winde after a Level 8 warning of disruptive rains and winds.

Municipalities in the Western Cape were preparing for heavy rain, flooding and mudslides as the latest in a series of cold fronts was expected to make landfall on Thursday, triggering a Level 8 weather warning.

Some public schools in Cape Town, the Winelands, Overberg, Malmesbury and Piketberg were set to close for the day on Thursday.

Since last Thursday, disruptive weather conditions including heavy rain, damaging winds and in some parts, snow, have struck the Western Cape and parts of the Northern and Eastern Cape.

On Wednesday, during a media briefing, Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said, "We all need to be prepared."

The City of Cape Town, Drakenstein and Stellenbosch municipalities were expected to be particularly hard-hit by the wild weather.

About 4,000 structures across the Cape metro have been damaged by the recent storms, affecting 15,000 people.

The West Coast village of Wupperthal was cut off and flooding, road and electricity disruptions hit the Overberg and Cape Winelands.

Evacuations in Drakenstein

In the Drakenstein Municipality, residents of Newton, Wellington, were evacuated because of the risk of a dam wall bursting.

"Due to heavy rainfall over the last couple of days, combined with high ground saturation levels in the...