Capetonians can expect a slight reprieve from the rain over the next two days. But don't pack away the wellies yet.
|||Cape Town - Capetonians can expect a slight reprieve from the rain over the next two days. But don’t pack away the wellies and brollies yet, another cold front is expected to make landfall at the weekend.
On Tuesday, disaster risk management teams continued mop-up operations after heavy weekend downpours left thousands homeless.
Charlotte Powell, of the city’s disaster risk management team, said a weather advisory indicated rough seas, 7m swells and very cold temperatures, but no rain for the rest of the week.
Powell said the advisory expected very cold conditions on the western high ground of the Western Cape with snowfalls in some parts. She said teams were called out to parts of Mitchells Plain, Sir Lowry’s Pass Village and Khayelitsha on Tuesday to assist with mop-up operations.
Weather office forecaster Stella Make said no rain was expected for the rest of week, but warned of showers on Saturday when a cold front was expected to move in.
Meanwhile, provincial disaster risk management teams were dispatched to Wupperthal on the West Coast where flooded low water bridges were obstructing access to the small residential area, said the province’s disaster management chief director Colin Diener.
Rescuers headed to the town after they battled to get information and the area was cut off, he said.
In the Swartland, 15 people were displaced in Chatsworth. While snow was expected in parts of the province, conditions were not as devastating as last year’s storms, Diener said.
Snow fell on the western high ground of the province at the weekend. In Sutherland, the Verlantenkloof Pass from Matjiesfontein was closed and several vehicles were stuck in the snow, including a group of bikers who had cruised into town on a joyride.
By midday on Tuesday, an officer at the Sutherland police station confirmed that the pass was opened and that those who had been “stuck” in town were able to leave.
Denise du Plessis, at the Sutherland Hotel, said there was still no power by lunchtime on Tuesday and that the local OK Minimart was the only business with a generator. “It’s so cold and so cloudy,” she said.
Du Plessis said that while some of the bikers had ventured off early on Tuesday, many of them chose to stay in the hotel.
The situation had “normalised” in the Cape Winelands district municipality, and there were no incidents reported in the Overberg, Eden and Central Karoo district municipalities, said authorities.
natasha.prince@inl.co.za
Cape Argus