Cold front leaves thousands displaced

Rainy weather in the CBD of Cape Town. Picture: neil baynes

Rainy weather in the CBD of Cape Town. Picture: neil baynes

Published Jun 2, 2013

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Cape Town - Winter storms in Cape Town have displaced more than 2 000 people, the city's disaster risk management centre said on Sunday.

“Thunderstorms were present across the Cape Peninsula last night (Saturday), resulting in gusting winds causing widespread damage and destruction,” said the centre's spokesperson Wilfred Solomons-Johannes.

He said 547 shacks were damaged and 2 266 people displaced by storms and flooding in Bishop Lavis, Hout Bay and parts of Gugulethu, Strand and Khayelitsha.

In Philippi, a graveyard was flooded. Elsewhere, the roofs of houses were blown off.

A number of mainly informal settlements were flooded in Atlantis, Blackheath, Elsies River, Kalkfontein, Langa, Lavender Hill, Lotus River, Milnerton, Parkwood.

Cape Town mayor Patricia De Lille called for “extraordinary emergency arrangements”.

Earlier, Solomons-Johannes said snowfalls were expected in parts of the Western and Northern Cape on Sunday. - Sapa

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