Cape Town's 'Blue Heads' take a tumble as most of SA braces for rain

Winds around 74km/h are sweeping through the interior of the Western Cape on Thursday, says the South African Weather Service (Saws).

So strong were the gusts that local artist Lionel Smit's iconic “Blue Heads” artwork along the Mouille Point promenade was damaged. The two blue heads had stood on the promenade for years but were found lying on the ground on Thursday.

Saws forecaster Khumsa Masizana told TimesLIVE that the heavy winds were part of a rain-producing system that would see an 80% chance of showers and thundershowers across most of the country.

Along the southern parts of the Western Cape, these were meant to bring localised flooding.

Updating TimesLIVE on Thursday afternoon, forecaster Celeste Fourie said the winds would move from Cape Town to the Beaufort West area on Friday.

Gauteng will from Thursday evening experience scattered thundershowers that will continue into Friday morning, with a small chance of hail.

“On Friday, the weather will be cloudy with scattered showers. The rain will start to clear up on Saturday. It will be cloudy in the morning, clearing towards the evening,” said Fourie.

The weather service warned of severe thunderstorms in Mpumalanga, the Free State and  central and eastern parts of the North West on Friday.

TimesLIVE