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Cyclone adds weight to Durban’s weather chaos

WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.

Original Post Date: 2007-03-22 Time: 00:00:00  Posted By: Jan

A Cyclone making its way around Madagascar is being monitored for its potential effect on already dramatic sea conditions which caused the Durban and Richards Bay harbours to close on Sunday.

Winds gusted at up to 50kts at Richards Bay o9n Sunday.

The unusually high tides expected on Tuesday because of the alignment of the Earth, sun and moon were expected to have minimal effect.

However, the cyclone could throw a curve-ball in our direction, said Andrew Mather, the eThekwini Municipality’s Project Executive for Coastal Policy.

“It is definitely going to be the highest tide (Sunday) and we are watching another cyclone coming around Madagascar,” he said.

Richards Bay Harbour Master Ravi Naicker said seven ships had been drifting while anchored outside the harbour because they had been unable to hold their anchors against the 50kt south-westerly winds. He said swells had been between 4m and 6m.

The port was closed to both incoming and outgoing vessels.

National Ports Authority spokesperson Jyothi Naidoo said the Durban port had been closed to incoming vessels from 9.45am on Sunday. Winds had reached up to 43kts by late on Sunday afternoon and swells at the entrance were up to 5m.

Naidoo said this had highlighted the need for the entrance channel to be widened and deepened to improve the safety of navigation of vessels calling at the port.

Mather’s predictions were that the high tide would be about 2.19m at 4.30am on Tuesday, an increase of about 10 percent on the usual height.

Lifesaving South Africa warned bathers to be cautious of the high tides over the next few days. A spokesman said people were urged to swim only within demarcated areas.

The weather bureau predicted gales on Monday along the KZN coast and swells of 5m to 6m.

“Temperatures will be cool over most of the province with possible maximums of between 20C and 25C,” a spokesperson said.

The National Sea Rescue Institute warned on Sunday that strong winds and heavy seas were expected along the Eastern Cape and KZN coastlines for the next two days.

“The NSRI is appealing to bathers and boaters, seafarers and anyone using that stretch of coastline to exercise extreme caution. Preferably, do not launch to go to sea if you do not have to, and anyone launching to go to sea should wear their life jackets at all times,” spokesman Craig Lambinon said.

He also warned swimmers of the potential of rip currents.

Parts of Durban North, Kloof, Wyebank, Illovo and Cowie’s Hill, where the power was knocked out in Thursday night’s storm, were still without electricity on Sunday.

Umlazi police and locals on Sunday retrieved the body of Sandile Dlamini who was washed away by a strong current in the Mlazi River near Ezakhiweni, south of Durban, on Friday morning.

However, the search continues for two members of a family from Inanda’s Bhambayi settlement who went missing when their home was flooded on Thursday night. The bodies of two other members of the Ximba family have been found

Meanwhile, the Fire Department reported that a woman had been killed in the Sherwood area on Friday when a tree had fallen on the caravan she had been sitting in. The department reported attending to several fallen trees on Sunday.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20070319071043721C721432