Cape Town - There will be little respite from the ice cold conditions as snow and two further cold fronts are expected to make landfall this weekend.
For most parts of the Western Cape, the rain and winds damaged homes, roads, assets and other infrastructure.
The South African Weather Service (Saws) Cape Town weather office senior forecaster, Elani Heyneke, said the severe weather events stemmed from a series of cold fronts that had affected mainly the western parts of South Africa. Saws issued several warnings for the western parts of the country for the remainder of the weekend.
“A cold front is expected to make landfall over the south-western parts of the Western Cape on late Saturday morning with a secondary cold front making landfall on Sunday. Therefore, the weekend is expected to be windy and cooler over most of the Western Cape, with showers and rain and the occasional thunderstorm over the western parts.”
Heyneke also shared a peek into the weather forecast for the next week.
“Snowfalls are possible over the western mountains on Saturday evening into Sunday morning. The temperatures are expected to gradually increase from Monday, however dropping again on Thursday with another possible cold front expected to make landfall during the morning.”
Western Cape Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell said authorities remained on high alert as cold and wet weather persisted.
“We have a huge humanitarian situation to deal with and all authorities are working together to address this. We have approached the National Disaster Management Centre for a provincial disaster classification, and expect an announcement on this soon.”
Premier Alan Winde called for national authorities to expedite this.
“We desperately need additional resources to sustain our disaster management operations. Assessments still need to be finalised and from our side we are working flat out to complete this process. I want to again thank all stakeholders for everything they do in the service of our citizens, particularly the most vulnerable.”
Dams and rivers are also a main priority as levels continue to rise, according to the Department of Water and Sanitation.
The Breede River at Swellendam is flowing at more than 1 000m³ a second, which is at a level where the river could start to breach its banks. Larger volumes of water are expected to come down the river in the coming days.
“The Clanwilliam Dam in the Olifants River is at 107%, and a controlled release of 1 100m³ of water a second is being implemented.
The department said: “Downstream communities need to take note and exercise caution in the coming days. In Laingsburg the Floriskraal Dam is at 118%, and communities in the immediate downstream vicinity have been alerted to the risk of flooding.
“The Berg River Dam is at 103%, and a flow volume of 396m³ was measured at Paarl in the Berg River this morning.
“The Theewaterskloof Dam is 90% full. Voëlvlei Dam is at 79%.”
Residents of Newtown in the Drakenstein area evacuated their homes voluntarily after levels became risky.
“While the water level of the farm dam that is at failure risk above Newton, Wellington, remains unchanged for now, Drakenstein Municipality is asking residents of 900 households who have evacuated on Tuesday to stay put with their temporary placements with family and friends.”
This call came in the light of a series of cold fronts predicted to move over the Western Cape this weekend, bringing accumulated rains after a week of cold fronts that have already saturated the soil.
The City of Cape Town’s Disaster Risk Management spokesperson, Charlotte Powell, told Weekend Argus, “It would be very difficult to attach a cost to the damage. Our focus at this point is on response and recovery efforts.
“Chapman’s Peak and Clarence drives remain closed. A stop-go system is in place at Miller’s Point in Simon’s Town due to a mudslide… This is a very fluid situation and could change at any moment depending on weather conditions or mop-up operations being completed.”
Mayco Member for Urban Mobility, Rob Quintas said: “The residents and teams working on the ground have faced great challenges during the rain events this week and I thank everyone for their efforts and the resilience displayed while facing these dire circumstances.
“I know a lot of work was under way in Macassar, Hanover Park, Gugulethu, Lotus River and various locations between Bishopscourt and Rondebosch East this morning. In our informal settlements, I am aware that the teams assisted with milling and sand in Barcelona, Kanana and Vygieskraal amongst others today.”