Another cold front to bring more rain and snow

GEORGE NEWS - The South African Weather Service is predicting another cold front for this week, affecting the entire Western Cape province from tonight and into the weekend with a probability of more rain for the Garden Route.

The weather service has issued a warning for damaging winds, disruptive rain, and also snow in high-lying parts of the province. Heavy rain is predicted from this afternoon, spreading over the entire province by the evening. Localised flooding is possible.

Last week's cold front also brought heavy rain in a short period in George from Wednesday night through Thursday morning, causing flooding in parts of the city.

Over the two days, a total of 63,8mm was measured at George Airport, according to the weather service. A resident in Blanco near the mountain, Hardus Coetzee, said he measured just over 90mm.

Hope Street and a section of Artillery Road in Delville Park had to be closed due to flooding. The Pacaltsdorp Clinic was flooded and the George municipal main building was closed on Thursday due to water damage to the roof which caused damage to electrical wiring.

In Pioneer Road, rainwater lapped at the front doors of businesses on Thursday morning. Keoma Frye of DSV said their employees parked at the filling station at the top end of the road and one of their trucks drove them through the water to the office. "The building did not suffer much damage. Some water ran into our lobby but that was because of waves forming as vehicles drove by and we placed some sand bags at the front door," she said.

Kloppers suffered damage after drain pipes leading from the roof into an open courtyard could not handle the volume of water, causing flooding of a part of the hi-tech section, according to the manager, Hein Botha.

Various roads in Delville Park in Pacaltsdorp were also flooded. Some owners had great difficulty getting out of their premises on Thursday morning as their yards were flooded.

George Herald received several complaints from residents living in the informal settlements across George whose homes were flooded.

The Outeniqua Bowling Club rink looked like a small dam on Thursday morning and parts of Kingswood Golf Estate's golf course were flooded.

A mud slide in the Outeniqua Pass partially blocked the road for some hours before being cleared away.

The Garden Route Dam has benefitted from the rain and by yesterday, Wednesday 25 August, it was 100% full at the old wall height and 84,25% full at the new wall height.

Delville Park was among the areas where flooding occurred.