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Created on Monday, 16 July 2012 08:09

FIVE people died, dozens of roads were closed, thousands were evacuated and others spent the night trapped in their vehicles as heavy rain, wind and snowfalls caused havoc across the country at the weekend. Two people froze to death. Three drowned in Port Elizabeth, SABC radio reported. By yesterday morning road closures and flooding were so bad in Port Elizabeth that 2 000 people had been evacuated. More heavy rainfall was expected in the flood-hit Eastern Cape today and residents were advised to avoid low-lying areas.

In the Western Cape, hundreds of freight trucks were stuck as heavy snowfall closed the N1 between Cape Town and Johannesburg. Thousands of motorists were stranded in Beaufort West as traffic officials and Disaster Risk Management spent hours clearing the snow from the road to allow trucks to pass.

In Lesotho, about 28 vehicles were stuck in snow all Saturday night on the Moteng mountain pass where a motorist described the scene as “Armageddon” with cars lying across the road.

The two who froze to death were in Mqanduli and Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, police said.

The bodies were found on roadsides early yesterday, said Lieutenant-Colonel Mzukisi Fatyela. It was believed the cold made it difficult for them to walk to their destinations. One was a woman, 44, from Ikhwezi township returning home from a traditional ceremony, the other a 69-year-old man. A postmortem would be conducted.

In Port Elizabeth more than 2 000 had to be evacuated from their homes as heavy rains caused widespread flooding. Eleven roads were closed around Port Elizabeth. Six were opened later as rains subsided.

Port Elizabeth disaster risk management’s Kupido Baron said: “Our evacuation operations are ongoing. We are providing food, blankets and shelter to more than 2 000 people. The whole city is under water and dams are overflowing. We are expecting the weather to clear so that we can start mopping-up operations on Monday.”

In Lesotho, vehicles slipped into ditches on the Moteng pass as heavy snowfall caused the road to become slippery with a thick layer of ice.

A pregnant woman, a sick child and a diabetic were among the first to be rescued from the vehicles where people spent Saturday night in their cars as temperatures dropped to -18. A total of 41 people were assessed and treated by ER24.

Rescue operations were coordinated via the 4x4community.co.za forum where users posted updates, activating ER24 and volunteer rescue teams.

Kobus van den Berg, who was trapped on the mountain overnight, said motorists were stopped about 5km from the Afri Ski Resort.

“There was no visibility because there was a bad blizzard. A couple of vehicles drove into each other as we got trapped on the mountain. There were so many accidents on the pass because vehicles were slipping into ditches. It was a bit of a mess and no one was able to get off the pass.”

By yesterday afternoon most of the people in the 28 vehicles had been evacuated and taken to the Oxbow Lodge.

Van den Berg said: “We saw a lot of distressed people and panic was starting to set in. It is extremely cold out there, like being inside a freezer. It was quite incredible as we looked down the slope, there were a number of overturned cars, it looked like Armageddon with cars lying in different positions, covered in snow. It was quite bad.”

After spending the night stuck in her vehicle, Shani Coetzee said: “The skies are clear now, there is a lot of snow and it’s very cold. We are all fine and that’s important. We are still struggling to move some cars but they are grading the road and they have managed to move some cars.”

Beaufort West disaster risk management’s Hein Rust said: “We are busy winning. The N1 has been opened and we are getting the trapped trucks out. There are still some spots on the road where the snow is still very thick. We need to get the trucks off the roads first before we can start regulating traffic. We stopped people in Richmond, Three Sisters and Victoria West so we could clear the trucks. There are large volumes of traffic but we have to allow them on the N1 slowly to avoid any accidents.”

Motorists flocked to guest houses in Beaufort West. The Wagon Wheel Country House had an extra 25 bookings while the Donkin Country House had 80 more visitors over the weekend and 110 extra people booking in on Saturday night.

Rust said freight trucks were stuck in the snow for a day while others were stuck for 36 hours. “We can’t give an exact number of how many trucks got stuck but at one point we counted 130 trucks.”

Other Western Cape roads experienced normal traffic volumes. Western Cape provincial traffic spokesman Jacques Mostert said: “The N1, N2 and N7 are all experiencing normal traffic volumes. It seems people made their way back from holiday earlier. We had heavy fog over Sir Lowry’s Pass but traffic volumes were normal.”

Late yesterday afternoon rocks were dislodged on Sir Lowry’s pass, hitting two cars.

ER24 spokesman Werner Vermaak said 12 people, including six children, had sustained minor scratches and bruises. They were treated on the scene.

Vermaak said the N2 near Sir Lowry’s pass was closed for a while as rocks were being removed from the road.

South African Weather Service forecaster Lulama Nenze said: “Weather across the country should clear by Tuesday. Weather will be cold to cool throughout the week. Temperatures are expected to reach 16ºC in Pretoria, warming up slightly to 17ºC on Tuesday. Temperatures will be slightly colder in Johannesburg and Vereeniging with Vereeniging expecting a chilly -4ºC on Tuesday morning. There is a warning of possible snowfall on the high ground in the Eastern Cape and the South Eastern parts of the Northern Cape today (Monday). Rough seas are also expected right from Plettenberg Bay to Maputo today.”

Joint Operations Centre regional manager Hugh van Niekerk issued a list of incidents being handled by disaster management on the coastline: “Jets and boats were washed out to sea in Plettenberg Bay. There was also extensive flooding over the coastal and adjacent interior from Plettenberg Bay to Port Elizabeth causing widespread damage.

“Many roads in Port Elizabeth were closed due to floods, fallen trees and motor car accidents. Numerous roads were also closed due to snow over mountain passes in the interior. The Eastern Cape also experienced strong winds which blew roofs off houses. There were also major power outages due to extensive flooding.”

Parts of KwaZulu-Natal were blanketed in snow. Shipping movements and terminal operations at Durban harbour were hampered by strong winds since early yesterday. - Cape Times