About 25 000 Eskom customers have been left without electricity after severe weather conditions affected the power utility’s network.
Also read: WC roads closed as severe weather continues to cause damage
In a statement, it said its electricity network ‘remains vulnerable as parts of the Western Cape province continues to experience gale-force winds, heavy rain and flooding after the South African Weather Service issued a level 8 warning for Thursday’.
The affected areas include:
- Bot River and surrounding farms
- De Doorns and Touws River
- Driftsands
- Parts of Khayelitsha
- Betty’s Bay, Kleinmond and Rooi Els
- Malmesbury, Middleton, Riebeek West and surrounding farms
- Rawsonville and surrounding farms
- Parts of Sir Lowry’s Pass and surrounding farms
- Snake Park in Grabouw
- Somerset West and surrounding farms
- Sutherland and Roggeveld
- Swartberg in Laingsburg
- Wolsley
‘Eskom will monitor these situations closely, and resume restoration efforts to these areas as soon as it is safe for technicians to do so,’ it added.
The City of Cape Town’s Informal Settlements Management Branch has issued more than 6 500 flood kits since the start of the week, and NGOs including Gift of the Givers, Islamic Relief, Ashraful Foundation, Living Hope, Mustadafin Foundation and Al Imdaad have distributed 44 642 meals, nearly 10 000 blankets, beanies, mattresses and hygiene packs to affected communities.
Between 6pm on Wednesday and 6am on Thursday, the City’s Public Emergency Communication Centre (PECC) logged 339 incidents. About 40% of these calls were related to the weather, News24 reports. Roughly 10% accounted for service faults.
‘During the period, 54 calls were received about flooding of homes and severe weather conditions, and 85 calls relating to conditions on the roads, including motor vehicle accidents and trees obstructing roads,’ says PECC’s Estelle-Mare Ward.
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LIVE: Overnight weather wreaks havoc across the Western Cape
Picture: City of Cape Town / Facebook