Cape Town - There were crashes and delays in the wet weather across Cape Town on Wednesday morning.
City traffic services responded to a number of crash scenes, including a major smash on the N1 inbound at Jip de Jager, which resulted in all inbound lanes being closed to traffic.
City traffic spokesman Richard Coleman said a vehicle had broken down, causing delays. Then a bakkie collided with four other vehicles, blocking all the lanes for some time.
At the time of publication, there was still a “massive backlog” of vehicles on the N1. “But the road was reopened and traffic flow is uninterrupted now.”
This accident was preceded by seven reported crashes on major routes around the metropole between 6.20am and 8.30am.
The crashes were at Nelson Mandela Boulevard outgoing; the Koeberg and Bosmansdam interchange; the Symphony and Stellenbosch arterial interchange; the Wespoort and Eisleben interchange; Hospital Bend outgoing at the N2 on-ramp; Ou Kaapse Weg incoming at Silvermine and the Potsdam and N7 interchange. In most cases there were only minor injuries.
Road flooding was reported at Main Road, before Boyes Drive, Lakeside.
“This is an abnormal amount of crashes for normal rush hour traffic,” Coleman said.
“It is consistent with our experiences when there is a sudden spell of wet weather.
“We always advise motorists to please switch on their headlights, to maintain a safe following distance and to stick to the speed limit during these conditions.”
SA Weather service said the rain would last into the weekend and issued warnings for high seas, damaging winds and heavy rainfall for most coastal regions in the province. The interior is also expected to undergo heavy rains, the service warned.
Cape Argus