Rescue services are using boats to evacuate residents of a flooded settlement near Philippi outside Cape Town in the wake of a massive cold front that has brought heavy rain to the Western Cape.
”Metro [rescue services] and the police are using rescue boats to evacuate people from Pholo Park in Philippi,” Disaster Risk Management Centre manager Walter Solomons told the South African Press Association (Sapa) shortly after 10.30am on Friday.
Gale-force winds and torrential rain overnight have wreaked havoc across the Cape Flats, east of the city.
Solomons said an estimated 10 000 people, mainly residents of the area’s crowded informal settlements, had been affected.
The biggest problem was blocked storm-water drains, which had contributed to the flooding.
Asked if the rescue services were stretched, Solomons replied: ”Yes, but we are coping.”
He said no injuries or deaths had been reported.
According to news reports, other areas affected by the flooding include Athlone, Mowbray, Claremont, Guguletu and Khayelitsha.
The South African Weather Service says another cold front is set to hit the Western Cape on Saturday afternoon, but it is ”not a big one”.
However, there are three weather warnings for the region, forecaster Francois Geffroy told Sapa.
The first is for very rough seas, with swells exceeding 5m, for the area between the Orange River mouth and Plettenberg Bay.
The second is for gale-force winds between Cape Point and Plettenberg Bay, which will moderate on Sunday.
The third warning is for ”very cold, wet and windy” conditions that are expected to persist through Friday and Saturday over high-lying ground in the Western and Northern Cape.
Rainfall over the last 24-hour measuring period (up to 8am on Friday) had been very heavy in some areas of Cape Town and the adjoining Boland, Geffroy said.
These included: Villiersdorp, 78mm; Stellenbosch, 51mm; Somerset West, 63mm; Groote Schuur, 84mm; Grabouw, 101mm; and Kirstenbosch, 110mm.
With the high moisture content and low freezing level, it was likely there would be lots of snow on the Cape’s mountain tops, he said.
Earlier on Friday, a Ceres resident phoned in to a local radio station to say there was heavy snow falling in the mountains above the town. — Sapa