When stormy weather pummeled the shoreline on Saturday, a 93-year-old woman was killed when a freak wave slammed a parking lot in Leentjiesklip, in the southern Cape.
“A 93-year-old female has sadly died. According to National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) spokesperson Craig Lambinon, “she was swept off her feet by a wave that penetrated a car park, causing cars to be swept with that wave.”
“Another man was also hurt.” He was taken to the hospital.”
Lambinon cautioned that the very high and rough waves will continue on Sunday, with a peak forecast between 3 and 6 p.m.
“The main concern is 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., 6 p.m. today on Sunday.” Storm surges will be a risk along our coastline, particularly along the east coast, but also along the west coast and the Western Cape coastline, the southern Cape coastline, the Eastern Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal.”
The waves will begin to subside at 4-5.5m on Monday morning and will drop to below 4m by late afternoon on Monday.
Storm surge, according to South African Weather Service (Saws) meteorologist Lelo Kleinbooi, is an abnormal volume of water gathering on the shoreline, manifesting as an increased sea level, which can result in coastal flooding.
“This occurs when a deep or intense low-pressure system passes through, and in our case, an intense cold front passed south of the country.”
“This causes a tight pressure gradient, which causes strong winds, which increase the sea state.” Furthermore, if this coincides with a new or full moon, there is a good probability of a storm surge because predicted waves will be amplified even more during high tide.
“It’s called a spring tide, not because of the season, but because the water’springs’ higher and lower than when the sun and moon are at right angles to each other, causing less extreme tidal changes.”
Gordon’s Bay, Three Anchor Bay, Sandy Bay, and Still Bay on the Western Cape were all affected.
At Three Anchor Bay, a 25-year-old man from Johannesburg became entangled in rip currents but was able to free himself. Meanwhile, in Table Bay, a guy was transported to the hospital with hypothermia but is expected to recover well.
