Grahamstown residents and businesses are counting their losses after a powerful storm on Wednesday 12 November uprooted giant trees and damaged property.
Grahamstown residents and businesses are counting their losses after a powerful storm on Wednesday 12 November uprooted giant trees and damaged property.
There were fears on Thursday afternoon that the city's water supply would be depleted within hours, as technicians battled to restore power lines damaged by falling trees and strong winds.
These include the lines feeding the pumps at Howieson's Poort pump station, which supply storage dams at Waainek Water Treatment Works.
The dramatic storm, which struck around 4pm accompanied by strong winds, blocked traffic on the N2 to Port Elizabeth with uprooted trees blocking the road.
Homes, cars, gardens and fences were left ruined at Stones Hill – an area still recovering from July's devastating fires. Resident Mike Ginn said the storm dumped 62mm of rain in 20 minutes. Another resident Doreen Kemp, who has been living in the area for 22 years, said she had never seen such a storm before.
"My heart is very sore, my coffee shop is completely destroyed but I'll try and re fix it," Kemp said. Her coffee shop selling home made pies, tarts and jams, operates from a Wendy house, which was crushed by a falling tree.
Brian Fosberry who runs a car workshop in the same property, also suffered. The bonnet of his 1984 Ford Granada was hit by a giant Black Wattle tree.
"At the moment I'm waiting for that tree to be removed so that I can start working on that car. The strong wind was more terrifying, I had to hide behind the boxes because the wind was blowing strong. There was hail coming in, too."
Leslie Ginn, who was still struggling to recoup her personal and professional losses after the July fires destroyed her home and all its contents, was grateful that her house, which is under construction, was not damaged again.
"The big coral tree fell in between the water tank and the house," she said. "I was lucky." However, like other residents in the area, her water supply from the borehole was cut because there was no power to pump. The house is surrounded by a forest of big Jacarandas, Oaks and other trees.
"Trees fell and it's open and bare now." Makana Municipality spokesperson Yoliswa Ramokolo said that the storm had damaged the overhead electrical lines supplying Howiesons Poort pump station.
"Trees fell over and damaged a large section of the electrical lines. Due to these damages, Howiesons Poort pump station and Waainek Water Treatment Works do not have power, therefore causing water outages to the entire Grahamstown West area."
Ramokolo said major repairs needed to be carried out before power was restored. The municipality said it was mainly areas supplied by the Waainek water Treatment works that were affected.
MobiSam posted updates from Amatola Water throughout the day Thursday. The last report around 4pm said that the Waainek works was on line, but on a low flow, ensuring that some water was fed into the system.
Amatola urged residents in the lower areas to reduce their water consumption so that higher parts of the city could have water. The consolation, they said, was that the rain had improved the Howiesons Poort dam level.
Alicedale houses were also left damaged by the storm. Ramokolo said Makana's disaster management officer was working close with the councillor of Alicedale on the matter.
A gallery of storm photographs submitted by you, our readers, is here. The science behind the storm: here
