THE Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality yesterday started wrapping up its clean-up of the city following heavy rains and gale- force winds which lashed the Eastern Cape at the weekend.
The cold front, which also brought snow to parts of the province’s higher ground and heavy rains along parts of the coast, saw temperatures dip to their lowest this year so far.
A minimum of 5°C was recorded in the Bay, while inland temperatures fell to -8°C in Barkly East, -4°C in Graaff-Reinet and -3°C in Cradock.
With a weak cold front arriving tomorrow, forecasters said temperatures would not reach above 20°C for the rest of the week.
"There’s only a slight chance of rain but there will be partly cloudy conditions experienced for the week. It’s not going to warm up much. We won’t have the extreme weather that we had over the weekend but temperatures will remain low,” SA Weather Service Port Elizabeth office spokesman Garth Sampson said.
In the Bay, the municipality said its deployment of a disaster management team at the weekend had been a success.
"On Saturday disaster management officials assisted 186 people from the New Rest informal settlement with mattresses, soup and blankets and accommodated them at nearby facilities,” metro spokesman, Kupido Baron said.
"On Sunday officials assisted communities from Airport Valley, Area Q and Missionvale by suctioning water from approximately 100 flooded shacks. At the Kuyga Community Hall, 77 people were accommodated and 100 people from Shamrock were also given shelter, while all were assisted with blankets, mattresses and soup.”
Today the mercury will reach a high of 19°C in the Bay with a low of 6°C. Maximum temperatures in Cradock and Port Alfred will also reach 19°C, while Grahamstown’s mercury will reach a high of 17°C.
The maximum temperature in Humansdorp will be about 20°C.
