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6 months ago
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The City also warned that the inclement weather could cause damage to power infrastructure and power outages.
(Photo by Gallo images/ Die Burger/Jaco Marais)
- Severe weather has been forecast for parts of the country.
- City of Cape Town authorities are on alert for weather-related incidents.
- The City said strong winds and heavy rain could affect electricity infrastructure.
The City of Cape Town says its officials are on high alert following a weather warning for cold, windy and wet weather.
This is after an advisory by the South African Weather Service about inclement weather in the coming days.
The SA Weather Service (SAWS) has warned that an intense low-pressure system, known as a cut-off low, is expected to bring widespread showers and thundershowers to many parts of the country this weekend, and into early next week.
Cut-off lows are large weather systems notorious for causing widespread flooding, as evidenced by events such as the KwaZulu-Natal flooding in 2022 and the Laingsburg flooding in 1981. They are known for causing damaging winds, severe thunderstorms and even snow, depending on the season in which they develop.
The heavy weather is likely to affect parts of the Western Cape throughout the weekend.
READ | Saturday's weather: Cold temperatures, heavy rain, strong winds with possible flooding
Disaster Risk Management Centre (DRMC) spokesperson Charlotte Powell said that the system could result in a black southeasterly wind, possible disruptive rainfall, damaging waves, as well as very cold, wet and windy conditions.
"The DRMC has alerted all relevant City services to be on standby, in the event of any potential weather-related impacts," she said.
The City also warned that the inclement weather could cause damage to power infrastructure and power outages.
Mayco Member for Energy Beverley van Reenen said: "While we hope the expected inclement weather is not severe and will not have a big impact on electricity services, during episodes of bad weather there is a risk of increased damage to electrical infrastructure. Damaged infrastructure typically takes longer to repair."
If heavy showers and high winds were experienced, it may also affect the time it takes teams to attend to outages as they could only attend to electrical work once weather conditions improved and it was safe to do so, she added.
"Inclement weather may thus lead to high service request volumes and longer outage durations," she added.
SAWS issued a Yellow Level 1 warning for wind and waves leading to difficulty in navigation at sea between Saldanha Bay and Cape Agulhas from Friday until Saturday.
It also warned of disruptive rain, flooding and cold conditions in places over the Western Cape, southern parts of the Namakwa in the Northern Cape, and northern parts of the Eastern Cape.
