With a severe storm warning in place in the Western Cape, residents are being urged to stay indoors on Monday. The Disaster Management Centre says the storm is expected to make landfall in the province around midnight on Sunday.
Storm surges and wave heights of up to 12 metres are expected in some coastal areas.
⚠️Intense #ColdFront expected in the Western Cape tomorrow (13 July 2020). Main impacts will be from wind. Here’s the Alerts. Stay safe. pic.twitter.com/B6jc5mEGu0
— SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) July 12, 2020
⚠️A strong cold front will make landfall early Monday morning (13 July 2020) in the Western Cape. Large waves, gale force to strong gale force winds (65-100km/h) are expected with flooding possible in the SW Cape. The marine and coastal communities should take extreme precaution pic.twitter.com/mvLNzArK7f
— SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) July 12, 2020
The storm is predicted to make landfall at Cape Columbine on the West Coast. It will then move across the province to Cape Agulhas and towards Plettenberg Bay on Monday afternoon.
Small ports and harbours, in particular, are urged to take precautionary steps. Disaster Management Spokesperson James Styan has urged citizens to limit travelling.
“Limit travelling around the province as much as possible, conditions will be difficult. As mentioned, probably the biggest storm we’ve seen. So, it’s not something to take likely. All key disaster stakeholders have already been informed proactively to ensure that they are putting in place all possible mitigation measures and in the event of any emergency, to call the number 112.”
In the video below, cold front and storm wreak havoc in many parts of the Western Cape:
No emergency shelter required
Disaster Management says no residents required emergency shelter overnight following the heavy rains of the past three days. This, after residents of informal settlement experienced distress after their shacks were flooded.
In the video below, several informal settlements in the Western Cape experience flooding, power outages:
Disaster Management’s Charlotte Powell says a small group of residents at an informal settlement in Macassar near Somerset West refused an offer to take shelter at a local church hall out of fear of losing their personal belongings. They opted to stay with relatives.
Powell has warned residents of another approaching cold front starting on Sunday evening.
“The weather office has forecast another cold front to make a landfall later on Sunday, with impact to be felt until Tuesday. Given that the water table is already high due to prevailing weather conditions, the heavy downpours predicted for the next front will increase the risk of flooding.”
