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Cape Town was put through the wringer this past weekend with gale-force winds causing city-wide damage. According to the City of Cape Town’s Disaster Risk Management Centre, roofs were damaged in a number of areas, including Fresnaye, the Bo-Kaap, Sea Point, Philippi and Bonteheuwel.

“Storm-related electricity disruptions are being experienced in Pinelands, Bridgetown, Wynberg, Parow, Richmond Estate, Bellville, Seapoint, Strand, Claremont, Heideveld and Three Anchor Bay,” said Charlotte Powell, Disaster Risk Management spokesperson. “Large trees have been uprooted in Gordon’s Bay, Newlands, Mowbray, Rylands and Bonteheuwel.”

Powell added that no deaths or injuries have been reported as a result of the high wind speeds, and the City’s various departments are assisting all affected communities.

Residents are asked to direct non-emergency service requests to the City’s Call Centre on 0860 103 089, and to direct emergency calls to the Public Emergency Communication Centre by dialling 021 480 7700 from a cellphone or 107 from a landline.

A yacht in Mossel Bay also fell victim to strong winds on Saturday. Eyewitnesses reported seeing the boat wash ashore on Santos Beach. “The yacht owner sailed from Richards Bay to Cape Town and moored at Mossel Bay to wait out the weather forecast for Cape Town. He had gone ashore on a tender boat to replenish supplies and while on the shore, at the Mossel Bay Yacht Club, he noticed the swing mooring had broken loose from its anchorage causing his yacht to start drifting ashore. The yacht owner had returned to his yacht with members of the Yacht Club and they broadcast a Mayday distress call,” the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said in a statement.

“Our sea rescue craft Rescue15, already launching at that stage, arrived on the scene and we found the yacht caught up in the rope lines separating the yacht mooring area from the swimming area of Santos Beach,” the organisation added. “NSRI, assisted by a private boat, Blue Pointer, assisted to get the yacht free of the separation ropes and Blue Pointer assisted to manoeuvre our sea rescue craft into a position to be able to assist in amongst the rope that was line lying in the water.”

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Lucinda is a hard news writer who occasionally dabbles in lifestyle writing, and recent journalism graduate. She is a proud intersectional feminist, and is passionate about actively creating a world which is free of discrimination and inequality.