From uprooting tents and tearing branches from trees to fanning fires which led to more than 100 Cape Town residents being left homeless and a fatal car crash, the weekend's gale-force Cape Doctor kept rescue workers busy around the clock.
On Sunday, even though the wind had died down from Saturday's 94km/h, the city's Disaster Risk Management Centre remained on alert.
On Monday the SA Weather Service predicted the wind would remain moderate while temperatures were expected to reach 30°C.
At the weekend, though, the blustering winds, which started on Friday, caused widespread chaos and Disaster Risk Management spokesperson Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said the centre had received an increased number of complaints.
"We've heard of branches being blown off trees and Telkom lines being blown down.
"The gusts of wind were very strong," he said.
In more serious incidents, 80 residents of the Masiphumelele informal settlement in Fish Hoek were left homeless late on Saturday after a fire destroyed 15 shelters.
Earlier winds had also fanned a blaze through the Sheffield informal settlement in Philippi, gutting 16 shacks and leaving another 28 residents without homes.
A room above the Fairdeal Furniture factory in Parow was also destroyed by a fire which firefighters managed to extinguish before it spread.
The Cape Town Fire Command and Control Centre said the strong winds had made it difficult for firefighters to battle the flames.
They had also struggled to get a big veld fire, heading towards the Samora Machel informal settlement, under control.
Although the blaze did not destroy any homes, thick smoke blown from it was suspected to have caused a fatal car accident. An operator at the Metro EMS control room said "a thick pall of smoke" had blown across the R300.
"It reduced visibility to almost zero. A car was driving through it and stopped. Five others cars crashed into that car," he said.
Two people died and three others were seriously injured.
The names of the dead have not yet been released.
Police spokesperson Billy Jones said a culpable homicide case was being investigated and said it was believed smoke being blown from the fire had caused the accident.
Meanwhile, in Delft scores of residents evicted from the N2 Gateway housing project last month for illegally occupying houses were again left homeless when gale-force winds uprooted their tents along Symphony Way.
By Sunday Solomons-Johannes said the tents had been stabilised again.
In the city centre gusting winds also caused scaffolding at a building site at the corner of Spin and Longmarket streets to collapse but the area was secured later the same day, after building inspectors had inspected it.
Fifty knot south-easterly winds also caused problems at sea. On Saturday in Kommetjie, rescuers found a crewman, about 50 years old, from a snoek boat dead and face-down in the water.
The NSRI's helicopter duty commander Ian Klopper said the 3.5-metre snoek boat capsized 800 metres off-shore from the Kommetjie slipway.
When rescuers arrived they found a private boat being launched by Wayne Sheppard, the son of the skipper of the capsized boat and he rescued his father Fanie Sheppard and a crewman known only as Flippie.
Soon after, rescuers discovered the third crewman's body.
His name has not yet been released. - Cape Times
On Sunday, even though the wind had died down from Saturday's 94km/h, the city's Disaster Risk Management Centre remained on alert.
On Monday the SA Weather Service predicted the wind would remain moderate while temperatures were expected to reach 30°C.
At the weekend, though, the blustering winds, which started on Friday, caused widespread chaos and Disaster Risk Management spokesperson Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said the centre had received an increased number of complaints.
"We've heard of branches being blown off trees and Telkom lines being blown down.
"The gusts of wind were very strong," he said.
In more serious incidents, 80 residents of the Masiphumelele informal settlement in Fish Hoek were left homeless late on Saturday after a fire destroyed 15 shelters.
Earlier winds had also fanned a blaze through the Sheffield informal settlement in Philippi, gutting 16 shacks and leaving another 28 residents without homes.
A room above the Fairdeal Furniture factory in Parow was also destroyed by a fire which firefighters managed to extinguish before it spread.
The Cape Town Fire Command and Control Centre said the strong winds had made it difficult for firefighters to battle the flames.
They had also struggled to get a big veld fire, heading towards the Samora Machel informal settlement, under control.
Although the blaze did not destroy any homes, thick smoke blown from it was suspected to have caused a fatal car accident. An operator at the Metro EMS control room said "a thick pall of smoke" had blown across the R300.
"It reduced visibility to almost zero. A car was driving through it and stopped. Five others cars crashed into that car," he said.
Two people died and three others were seriously injured.
The names of the dead have not yet been released.
Police spokesperson Billy Jones said a culpable homicide case was being investigated and said it was believed smoke being blown from the fire had caused the accident.
Meanwhile, in Delft scores of residents evicted from the N2 Gateway housing project last month for illegally occupying houses were again left homeless when gale-force winds uprooted their tents along Symphony Way.
By Sunday Solomons-Johannes said the tents had been stabilised again.
In the city centre gusting winds also caused scaffolding at a building site at the corner of Spin and Longmarket streets to collapse but the area was secured later the same day, after building inspectors had inspected it.
Fifty knot south-easterly winds also caused problems at sea. On Saturday in Kommetjie, rescuers found a crewman, about 50 years old, from a snoek boat dead and face-down in the water.
The NSRI's helicopter duty commander Ian Klopper said the 3.5-metre snoek boat capsized 800 metres off-shore from the Kommetjie slipway.
When rescuers arrived they found a private boat being launched by Wayne Sheppard, the son of the skipper of the capsized boat and he rescued his father Fanie Sheppard and a crewman known only as Flippie.
Soon after, rescuers discovered the third crewman's body.
His name has not yet been released. - Cape Times
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