Africa-Press – South-Africa. Strong winds, with gusts of up to 80km/h, are expected to batter the Western Cape over the next few days, so power utility Eskom is readying a team to respond to outages and faults.
According to a South African Weather Service warning, strong to gale-force westerly to north-westerly winds of 60km/h to 65km/h, with gusts of 70km/h to 80km/h, are expected to hit areas between Table Bay and Cape Agulhas on Tuesday, before spreading to Plettenberg Bay by late evening.
The weather service added that it was also expected to be windy over the interior as the cold front approaches and passes, but no warning was issued for that, the weather service’s Kanyisa Makubalo told News24.
The winds are expected to continue on Wednesday.
It added that several areas in the province would be affected, including Saldanha Bay, Swartland, the City of Cape Town, Matzikama, Mossel Bay, Knysna and Cederberg.
Small vessels were advised to seek shelter in harbours due to unpredictable waves along the coast.
Eskom said it was preparing for the inclement weather, saying that it could hamper existing electricity restoration efforts.
The power utility said:
It urged people to be patient and to follow the available channels when logging a fault or when experiencing electricity supply challenges.
The inclement weather hits the province over the last days of South Africa’s winter.
Several cold fronts have hit the province, leading to severe rainfall and strong winds.
In June, above-average rainfall caused flooding in several parts of the province.
News24 previously reported that flooding left Citrusdal cut off from the rest of the province and resulted in two deaths.
In the Cederberg Municipality, Citrusdal recorded 283mm of rain in June, and Clanwilliam recorded 129mm.
In the Matzikama Local Municipality, Lutzville recorded 66mm of rainfall (300% of the normal amount), and Vredendal received 77mm (307%).
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