More than 800 people were forced to evacuate their homes by the stormy weather that hit Cape Town on the weekend, the city’s disaster risk management centre (DRMC) said on Monday.
And the South African Weather Service said more bad weather is on the way.
Flood damage was reported across the Cape Flats in areas including New Crossroads, Guguletu, Nyanga, Ravensmead, Mitchells Plain, Philippi and Langa, the DRMC said in a statement.
NGOs Historically Disadvantaged Individuals Support and Mustadafin Foundation are supplying meals and blankets to those temporarily housed in educare centres, sports halls and tents in the affected areas.
The Tessalonisense Herlewings church in Steenberg also partially collapsed during the storms.
South African Weather Service forecaster Stella Nake said Cape Town should expect another cold front on Thursday.
A strong south-western wind is expected to pick up on Thursday afternoon followed by rain until the early hours of Friday morning, she said.
Spokesperson for the DRMC Greg Pillay said it is ”early days still” to predict how storm damage in the Cape this year would compare with last year.
However, Pillay did say the weekend’s bout of rain seems to indicate Cape Town winters are back to their normal wet state after a much dryer season than usual last year.
The DRMC is ”taking their role and responsibility seriously” and gearing up for Thursday’s cold front, he said.
The centre will be issuing early warnings about the expected weather conditions to the public, NGOs, the police and housing department, and also has a flood plan in place.
Pillay said the DRMC is working closely with the city’s roads and stormwater departments, which are clearing drains and assessing possible problem areas.
In the Eastern Cape, temperatures dropped below zero on Sunday night at Jamestown, Aliwal North, Elliot, and Barkly East, where the mercury dropped to minus 4,2.
Snow was reported at the Hogsback, Molteno, along the Winterberg, on the Penhoek Pass north of Queenstown, on the Barkly Pass, and on the Outeniqua and Tsitsikamma Mountains.
On Sunday the South African Weather Service said that widespread frost is expected over the central interior and Highveld of Gauteng from Tuesday until Thursday morning.
Very cold conditions are expected to persist over the central interior until Wednesday.
The service had said in its daily forecast on Sunday that heavy falls of rain were expected between George and East London and the adjacent interior.
”Very cold, wet and windy conditions are expected over the Northern, Western and Eastern Cape provinces and western parts of KwaZulu-Natal, but [it will be] very cold and windy over the Free State and southern parts of North West and the Highveld areas of Mpumalanga and Gauteng.”
‘The coldest I’ve ever seen’
Meanwhile, it was reported on Monday that the mountain tops of Lesotho were blanketed in white after snowfalls on the weekend and missionary pilots battled to operate in the south of the country.
”Things seem alright on the Bloemfontein side of the country but there’s cold weather coming up from Grahamstown,” said Melvin Peters of Mission Aviation Fellowship shortly after coming into Maseru from the mountain airstrip of Manamaneng on Monday morning.
He said two of his colleagues were battling to get out of airstrips in the south.
Peters said the temperature he read on his analogue thermometer read minus-18 degrees at 12 800 feet.
”That’s the coldest I’ve ever seen it in seven years,” said the Canadian pilot whose daily runs in Lesotho involve corkscrew landings at airstrips deep in the Maluti mountains in weather conditions that can see visibility drop in little time. — Sapa