Cape Town was battered by a second cold front overnight, with strong winds and heavy rain damaging homes.
Dwayne Senior/Bloomberg via Getty Images
- Cape Town was battered by a second cold front overnight, with strong winds and heavy rain damaging homes, flooding roads and causing electricity outages across parts of the metro.
- The severe weather comes after the South African government declared recent storms, floods and snowfall affecting several provinces a national disaster.
- The City of Cape Town said roofs were blown off homes in Mitchells Plain and Hanover Park, and several informal settlements experienced flooding.
Cape Town residents have been urged to batten down the hatches after a second cold front made landfall overnight, tearing roofs from homes, flooding roads and informal settlements, toppling trees, and causing electricity outages.
And it’s not over. Authorities have warned of worsening conditions throughout Monday.
The severe weather comes just after the South African government officially declared the devastating weather battering several provinces a national disaster.
Widespread flooding, storms and snowfall have caused extensive infrastructure damage and disrupted essential services across the country.
The City of Cape Town’s Disaster Operations Centre remained on high alert on Monday morning as emergency teams monitored the impact of the latest frontal system moving across the metropole.
READ | Some schools in Cape Winelands to be closed on Monday amid new weather warnings
Disaster Risk Management spokesperson Charlotte Powell said City services had already responded to multiple weather-related incidents by late Sunday evening.
“By [then], our services had logged reports of roofs blown off in Mitchells Plain and Hanover Park, localised flooding in several informal settlements, flooded roadways and blocked drains, electricity outages and fallen trees,” Powell said.
She said reports of additional incidents were beginning to emerge from across the metro on Monday morning, although no “major” impacts had been recorded yet.
“We expect that the rate of reporting will increase as daylight sets in,” she said.
Extreme weather has created chaos in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, North West, Free State and Mpumalanga over the past week, prompting multiple high-level weather warnings from the South African Weather Service.
Authorities have warned of flooding, mudslides, dangerous coastal conditions, snowfall and damaging winds in several provinces.
Assessments were continuing in affected informal settlements, while emergency teams monitored roads impacted by flooding and fallen trees.
Powell said:
This morning, there are numerous reports of impacted roadways, either due to flooding or because of fallen trees. We remind the public to please take extreme caution if they need to be out and about and to report any emergency incidents to our Public Emergency Communication Centre on 021 480 7700.
Traffic services spokesperson Kevin Jacobs said authorities had not yet received reports of major crashes, despite dangerous driving conditions caused by heavy rain and strong winds.
“We have had no reports of major accidents on our roads so far this morning,” Jacobs said.
However, he said there were several traffic disruptions.
“On the M3 at Rhodes Drive, a tree is obstructing the roadway, and there are reports of live wires across the roadway on Rosmead Avenue in the vicinity of the Wynberg Fire station. Traffic officers are on scene and have effected a lane closure,” he said.
Jacobs added that widespread flooding had also affected several roads and urged motorists to drive cautiously.
