Today the city issued a statement warning residents to take precautions against forecasted mudslides.

Over 5000 hectares of land was ravaged by the ‘Cape Fire’ we experienced in early March (view the map here) and the potential knock-on effect of it are mudslides. Two weeks ago we had the first mudslide incident occur on Chapman’s Peak, with the pass only recently opening again on Thursday.

A cold front is underway right now in the Cape and possible thunderstorms on Tuesday.

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The map from EWN showing the extent of the Cape Fire.

Residents who live in high risk areas are advised to curb any excess flow from heavy rains as a precaution against mudslides. Perhaps a bit easier said than done.

As reported by IOL, the City has already contacted home owners who were considered to be at high risk to advise them about obstructions to water flow on their properties such as boundary walls with inadequate openings, stored or stockpiled materials, and structures that could pose a risk (such as Wendy houses).

Fortunately, TCT (Transport for Cape Town, the city’s transport authority) has taken preventative action against the possible mudslides by spending a quiet R2 million with the implementation of geo-fabric strips known as silt curtains, sandbags and ‘dragon teeth’ (traps made from vertical beams) around several high risk areas including Boyes Drive and Ou Kaapse Weg.

I’m hoping that all the new growth we photographed after the fires will be enough to hold off most of it.

 

Photography JacarandaFM

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