Cape Town, South Africa — The South African city of Cape Town and its surrounding areas were hit by more storms on Thursday that ripped roofs off homes and caused widespread flooding, forcing at least 4,500 people from their homes and damaging at least 15,000 structures, authorities said. The devastating weather started a week ago.
Multiple cold fronts have hit the region in far southwestern Africa since late last week, bringing record rainfall in some parts and hurricane-force winds. City officials said the bad weather was expected to continue into the weekend and possibly into next week.
The Cape Town neighborhood of Wynberg was left plagued with damage on Thursday morning after the latest front hit overnight. The strong winds tore off roofs, destroyed parts of houses and other buildings and toppled power poles.
The City of Cape Town said its Disaster Operations Center worked through the night to respond to residents’ calls for help.
At least 4,500 people were displaced and 15,000 structures damaged in and around Cape Town and the Western Cape province before the latest storm on Wednesday night and those numbers are expected to rise.
JP Smith, a member of Cape Town’s mayoral security committee, said the city and non-governmental organizations had already provided more than 36,000 meals and distributed 6,000 blankets to affected people in the past two days.
Many people left homeless were in the impoverished informal settlements on the outskirts of Cape Town, where metal and wooden shacks are especially vulnerable to strong winds and flooding.
Schools closed in Cape Town and other nearby areas, including the famous Stellenbosch wine region, where snow covered the streets earlier in the week in a highly unusual development as a result of extreme cold fronts sweeping in from the Atlantic Ocean.
Three major rivers in the province had overflowed, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said.
Provincial disaster management services had ordered the evacuation of some people in the agricultural area of Citrusdal and parts of the wine region around Stellenbosch, which is about 48 kilometers inland from Cape Town, due to flooding.
Authorities were considering the controlled release of water from some dams as a “precautionary measure” to prevent them from overflowing and causing further damage, the provincial government said.
Cape Town and other parts of South Africa’s southwestern coast are often affected by cold fronts in the winter months in the middle of the year that bring heavy rain and strong winds. But it is unusual for multiple fronts to occur in a short space of time.
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