Heavy rains in the Western Cape have prompted road closures and the evacuation of several communities.
|||Johannesburg - Residents of Paarl were evacuated from their homes to community halls on Wednesday night when the Berg River broke its banks, said the Democratic Alliance.
“A community living near the river has been evacuated to community halls,” said DA Drakenstein constituency head Erik Marais.
“With more rain expected tonight, more people are to be moved,” he said.
“Mayor Gesie van Deventer has called up all councillors to go and assist the communities at risk.”
Warnings of immediate danger because of rising water levels would also be sent to farmers next to the river, said Marais.
On Tuesday, the City of Cape Town warned of a cold front, which would bring cold and wet conditions, with gale-force north-westerly winds, between Cape Point and Cape Agulhas.
“The weather warning issued indicates that heavy rain is expected over the Cape Metropole overnight on 27 August and 28 August 2013,” the city's disaster risk management spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said in a statement.
“We urge residents to exercise caution,” he said.
On Wednesday morning, a man was found frozen to death in Kuilsriver, in Cape Town.
“The police had found two men huddled under wet cardboard boxes, unresponsive, freezing cold and sopping wet,” said ER24 spokeswoman Vanessa Jackson.
When paramedics arrived one of the men was dead. The other was in a critical condition, with a dangerously low body temperature, and was taken to the Tygerberg Hospital, she said.
Later in the day, Franschhoek Pass and Chapman's Peak Drive had to be closed to traffic following mudslides.
Franschhoek Pass, between Franschhoek and Villiersdorp, was closed after a mudslide and a small rockfall following heavy rains, said provincial transport department spokesman Al-Ameen Kafaar.
Traffic from Franschhoek to Villiersdorp was being diverted to the N2.
He said Chapman's Peak Drive was closed after a mudslide covered a large portion of the road.
“Both Chapman's Peak and the Franschhoek Pass will remain closed until further notice,” he said. - Sapa