Today the city issued a statement warning residents to take precautions against forecasted mudslides.

Over 5000 hectares of land was ravaged by the ‘Cape Fire’ we experienced in early March (view the map here) and the potential knock-on effect of it are mudslides. Two weeks ago we had the first mudslide incident occur on Chapman’s Peak, with the pass only recently opening again on Thursday.

A cold front is underway right now in the Cape and possible thunderstorms on Tuesday.

Screen Shot 2015-06-14 at 3.29.58 PM
The map from EWN showing the extent of the Cape Fire.

Residents who live in high risk areas are advised to curb any excess flow from heavy rains as a precaution against mudslides. Perhaps a bit easier said than done.

As reported by IOL, the City has already contacted home owners who were considered to be at high risk to advise them about obstructions to water flow on their properties such as boundary walls with inadequate openings, stored or stockpiled materials, and structures that could pose a risk (such as Wendy houses).

Fortunately, TCT (Transport for Cape Town, the city’s transport authority) has taken preventative action against the possible mudslides by spending a quiet R2 million with the implementation of geo-fabric strips known as silt curtains, sandbags and ‘dragon teeth’ (traps made from vertical beams) around several high risk areas including Boyes Drive and Ou Kaapse Weg.

I’m hoping that all the new growth we photographed after the fires will be enough to hold off most of it.

 

Photography JacarandaFM

Shares:
18 Comments
  • Lynette Erasmus-Butler
    Lynette Erasmus-Butler
    June 14, 2015 at 5:00 pm

    Neal Butler

  • Elaine Ridgway
    Elaine Ridgway
    June 14, 2015 at 5:02 pm

    Where?

  • Cape Town Etc
    Cape Town Etc
    June 14, 2015 at 5:08 pm

    Elaine We have included a map of the area affected by the Cape Fire in the post, these areas are high-risk.

  • Elaine Ridgway
    Elaine Ridgway
    June 14, 2015 at 5:13 pm

    Thank you. 🙂

  • Adrian Grove
    Adrian Grove
    June 14, 2015 at 6:12 pm

    You need rain for a mudslide….

  • Rose Malinaric
    Rose Malinaric
    June 14, 2015 at 6:26 pm

    It’s coming!

  • Liesel Schulenburg
    Liesel Schulenburg
    June 14, 2015 at 7:24 pm

    Omw

  • Bettie Nieuwoudt
    Bettie Nieuwoudt
    June 14, 2015 at 8:06 pm

    A little bit of rain in these circumstances with all the fires, extreme draught…. only a little bit of rain unfortunately

  • Louise McDuling
    Louise McDuling
    June 15, 2015 at 5:02 am

    Ek het hierdie lankal sien kom. Brand is nie die oorsaak van hierdie modderstorting nie. Met die ontploffings wat daar was om die tolhek te bou kon mens sien daar gaan probleme wees. ‘N paar maande daarna het mens gesien hoe gronderosie intree. Hierdie word heeltemal voor die deur van die mense wat die tolhek goedgekeur het geplaas. WIE DRA NOU DIE KOSTE? Die publiek!!!

  • Pierre Mostert
    Pierre Mostert
    June 15, 2015 at 5:27 am

    After all the mudslinging in parliament it won’t surprise me at all !

  • Louise McDuling
    Louise McDuling
    June 15, 2015 at 5:41 am

    Dit is hoe dit gelyk het na die tolhek geopen is.

  • Bobby Karlhuber
    Bobby Karlhuber
    June 15, 2015 at 7:35 am

    As a child I loved mudsliding.

  • Nina Jean Davis
    Nina Jean Davis
    June 15, 2015 at 8:16 am

    I’m pretty sure that this is an old pic!! I remember a white bakkie stuck in the mud.

  • Nina Jean Davis
    Nina Jean Davis
    June 15, 2015 at 8:47 am

    This is a warning. Potential mudslides!

  • Lorraine Fox
    Lorraine Fox
    June 15, 2015 at 8:54 am

    If this is so is it surprising !

  • CPTBookings
    CPTBookings
    June 15, 2015 at 9:22 am

    CapeTownEtc just shared your tweet on my RebelMouse http://rbl.ms/1Ig7aVq

  • Er Thompson
    Er Thompson
    June 15, 2015 at 10:31 am

    hard to believe that this can happen in Cape Town [Chapman’speak drive – Houtbay]

  • James Briggs
    James Briggs
    June 15, 2015 at 12:52 pm

    Robert Temlett umm let’s not go mining…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *