Hundreds of people have taken shelter in community halls and groups of matriculants have scrambled to get to their exams as the black south-easter closed roads and wreaked havoc through the Western Cape.
A group of pupils from Ashton Secondary were forced to write their English paper in Montagu after the road to their school was closed.
On Wednesday, parents and schools scrambled to get matriculants in the Overberg to their exam venues, after bad weather conditions left some roads almost inaccessible.
A group of pupils had to be transported in a 4×4 to Swartberg Secondary School in Caledon and a pupil who attends another school in the same town, was transported by tractor for some of the way.
The weather caused widespread havoc in Cape Town, the Boland and the Overberg, with roads closed, buildings damaged and trees uprooted.
At least six families were evacuated from Protem, a rural settlement between Caledon and Bredasdorp, and about 100 people were housed in a community hall after their homes in Zwelihle, Hermanus, were flooded.
The Southern Cape and Garden Route areas are in for a beating on Thursday, with heavy rain and high winds expected as the worst of a storm weather system moves eastwards after lashing Cape Town for two days.
Two sailors aboard a Chinese container ship were seriously injured while trying to lash down containers breaking loose in stormy seas off the Transkei coast.
One sailor was still unconcious today and the other had broken an arm, said National Sea Recue Institute (NSRI) spokesperson Craig Lambinon.
The weather has so far prevented rescuers from airlifting the injured sailors to shore for medical care.
The ship, the Anjong Jiang, had been ordered to head for East London overnight and by this morning, NSRI rescue craft rushed out to meet her “at least to get paramedics aboard to treat the two men”, Lambinon said.
In Cape Town, the wind remained strong, but the stormy weather was set to deliver a blow to the Garden Route area on Thursday as the slow-moving system inches eastwards, forecaster Keith Moir of the Cape Town weather office said.
The Eden and Bitou Municipal areas, covering the Southern Cape region, are on high alert as gale-force winds and rain continue to rip through the district.
Heavy rains also lashed the northern Boland and Breede River Valley on Wednesday, carried by fierce gale-force winds.
Near Montagu, roads were blocked and residents were located to holiday chalets after their homes were flooded.
Throughout the Breede River valley, farm dams were overflowing and farm roads made inaccessible by the deluge.
Last night Bitou municipal spokesperson Kenny Leluma said “so far” there had been no reports of extensive damage caused as a result of the weather, but officials were on standby.
“We have to be (ready), for the past three years storms wreaked havoc in the Southern Cape, in 2007 we are prepared should disaster strike again,” he said.
Reinard Geldenhuys of the Overberg District Municipality said that this morning that municipal officials were battling with heavy flooding after the Riviersonderend River at Greyton flooded on Wednesday night.
Several road closures on mostly secondary roads were reported in the region.
The bite has been taken out of the storm in Cape Town and although the wind was set to remain strong at about 40km/h, it would not be “the one that blows people over”, Moir said.
The Cape Town’s Disaster Risk Management Department confirmed a number of incidents have been reported since Tuesday evening, but that nobody had been injured.
Earlier today traffic spokesperson Merle Lourens said Baden Powell Drive remained closed and no major accidents were reported.
The coastal road which had been closed all of Wednesday, was opened during peak hour last night. “There were officers on scene to assist and guide the motorists. The road was then closed again,” Lourens said.
Source: Cape Argus
13/11/08
Tourism, Weather