The Mother City experienced some extreme weather this past weekend. Gale-force winds and heavy rain tore through Cape Town on Saturday morning [June 27] causing damage throughout the city.
The Cape was literally turned on its head by the winds, which blew so hard that the Woodstock cave waterfall flowed uphill. A lucky hiker, Paul Ingpen, photographed the captivating moment.
“The past few weeks have delivered incredible rain and the resultant waterfalls have been spectacular. Probably more so because we have been in drought conditions for a couple of years,” Ingpen, Managing Director of Electric Ink Media told Cape Town ETC.
“On Saturday the wind was over 40 knots (around 70km/h) so in some places you had to bend low to keep moving against it. Two weeks ago we had the same but with ice pellets added while softer snow was falling in the Cederberg.
“The strong NW wind was blowing vertically up the face of Table mountain. I have often seen waterfalls blow the wrong way (‘waterflies’) but one of this size was unbelievable, showing the incredible forces of nature that shape our slow but ever morphing environment.”
It’s not only waterfalls that were affected by this adverse weather. The City of Cape Town said the Disaster Operations Centre reported damage and power outages across the metropole. Trees were uprooted in various areas, and three dwellings were destroyed in Victoria Lodge Informal settlement in Southfield.
Check out more of Paul’s work on his Instagram page – @paulingpen.
Picture: Paul Ingpen
