Gale-force winds and driving rain have left several Eerste River families homeless and caused minor flooding in many parts of the Peninsula as the predicted overnight storm raged through Cape Town.
Friday morning traffic was disrupted and roofs were blown off about 15 low-cost houses in Spandau Road, Kleinvlei, near Eerste River on Friday morning.
The city's disaster management said no injuries had been reported in the incident.
A caller who did not want to be named said it had been "like a mini tornado sweeping through".
"I think some walls were blown down too," he said.
People in Parkwood, near Grassy Park, reported that roads looked like rivers and people's houses had been flooded.
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Resident Gertie Hartogh said people had been using buckets to scoop water out of their houses.
"Those of us who live in the old council houses have leaking roofs and the water comes right through the window frames. When we ask the council to fix things, they just want money," she complained.
In Newlands a landmark tree blew over, and near Pinelands the Elsieskraal River burst its banks in some places. But no serious flooding was reported.
At sea, the oil rig Pride South Seas was towed into False Bay to ride out the storm. The rig is returning to Cape Town for repairs after a problem with a valve in a ballast tank almost caused it to capsize at the gas and oil field off Mossel Bay about 10 days ago.
Early on Friday there were no reports of ships in trouble and emergency radios were quiet at Cape Town Radio.
Port Control reported that the pilots' service in Table Bay was expected to continue despite rough conditions in the bay.
The weather also contributed to a number of small accidents on Cape Town's roads during peak hour.
Early on Friday, a truck jack-knifed on the N1 and a series of small fender-benders had traffic officers scurrying to help, spokespersons said.
Only two accidents required the attention of rescue services.
Rain was expected to continue on Friday but not as heavily as overnight, said Ezekiel Sebego of the weather office at Cape Town International Airport.
"The wind will remain strong today (Friday). Tomorrow (Saturday), however, the rain will have moved away and it should be dry. We only expect a moderate wind for tomorrow (Saturday) with cloudy conditions."
But Sebego warned that conditions at sea would remain very rough. There would be high swells from the Orange River mouth all the way around the coast to the Eastern Cape.
From Oranjemund to Cape Town, swells were expected to reach five metres, but from Cape Point to the Eastern Cape they could be as high as 10 metres.
Gales would continue to lash ships at sea at least until Sunday and conditions were perfect for the appearance of swell anomalies - often referred to as freak waves, said maritime weather expert Jean-Pierre Arabonis.
Swell anomalies are caused when a high swell running up from the south hits the southward-flowing Agulhas Current and causes swells to double up into walls of water.
- This article was originally published on page 1 of Cape Argus on August 26, 2005
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