South Africa

Storm unleashes black Friday on Western Cape

22 April 2016 - 18:06 By Jerome Cornelius
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A storm turned Friday afternoon peak hour turned into a nightmare for Capetonians.

Provincial traffic chief Kenny Africa said heavy rain and strong winds, with gusts of up to 101km/h predicted, were causing havoc on roads.

He said a dust storm had been reported on the N2 between Caledon and Sir Lowry's Pass. Africa was on site between Heidelberg and Swellendam where the weather was the cause of a head-on collision between two vehicles.

“Two occupants were thrown out of the vehicles. A woman who was the occupant of a light motor vehicle died. She is currently behind the wheel,” he said.

Cape Town International Airport spokesperson Deidre Davids urged passengers to check their flights online to avoid confusion.

"There have been flights delayed. Both arrivals and departures are on a reduced schedule, with delays of up to 40 minutes due to the bad weather," she said.

Several incidents on the roads were reported by Twitter users. @HoutBayNews said two trees brought down by a storm were blocking the Disa river, creating a flood risk.

Rob Byrne of @TrafficSA posted photographs of a car wedged under the back of a bus in Sun Valley, Fish Hoek, and of a large branch blocking one side of Main Road, Hout Bay. He also reported that Chapman's Peak Drive, between Hout Bay and Noordhoek, had been closed due to high winds.

The @MountainSafety account said several trees had been uprooted in the Constantia Nek area.

A Facebook post reported roofs and road signs being destroyed in the Overberg and cars being blown off the N2.

 

The storm trended on Twitter

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