Thick fog has caused havoc with flights in and out of the city over the past few days – including delaying Premier Helen Zille yesterday as she was trying to get home to attend the DA election indaba – and Capetonians are battening down the hatches following severe weather warnings.
As the weather service issued a warning of fog and heavy rains for the weekend, the premier was tweeting yesterday: “First the flight was delayed by rabbits on the runway! Now ground control is not sure whether we will be able to land in Cape Town. Eish!”
And a few hours later: “Wow, that was an adventure. After an aborted landing attempt we are now safely on the ground, albeit in thick fog.”
Cape Town Weather Office forecaster Kate Turner said yesterday heavy rainfall would affect the city, the Overberg, the Winelands and the southern parts of the West Coast. Although things would clear somewhat tomorrow, the rain would continue until Tuesday morning.
“Our classification for heavy rainfall is equal to about 50mm or more in a 24-hour timeframe,” she explained.
Social media users have been complaining since Friday about delayed flights and there has been confusion about whether Cape Town International Airport was open or closed as a result of thick fog.
Deborah Francis, the spokeswoman for
Airports Company South Africa (Acsa), confirmed that heavy fog resulted in poor visibility at the airport on Friday.
One flight was diverted to George. Yesterday, inbound flights were again diverted, delaying further flights.
About noon, when the fog finally lifted, Francis said the “push now is to get as many flights moving and to get back on schedule”.
Friday’s fog proved hazardous at sea too when the National Sea rescue Institute (NSRI) was called shortly after 5pm to search for three Hout Bay fishermen in a small boat who got lost offshore of Cape Point as visibility deteriorated.
NSRI station commander for Hout Bay, Lyall Pringle, said the men, Kubuli Mntukanti, Stanley Mzimela and Zolile Maya, all from Imizamo Yethu, “had only a vague idea” of where they were based on “their estimated compass direction”.
The NSRI rescued them about 10pm, five hours later, after narrowing down the search area to a passage between the shoreline and up to three nautical miles out to sea, between Kommetjie and Cape Point. - Weekend Argus