Storm knocks out Eskom infrastructure in Western Cape

Residents of the greater Helderberg area in the Western Cape have been left without electricity after a storm damaged Eskom infrastructure.

Trish Da Silva, Eskom’s Western Cape communications manager, confirmed the area between Somerset West and Grabouw had been affected due “to some damage to [Eskom] infrastructure caused by the storm”.

Power supply had been lost from two major substations in the area.

The South African Weather Service issued a warning of a cold front arriving in Cape Town on Tuesday evening. The cold front was expected to bring moderate to heavy rains and strong winds.

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The storm, expected to bring between 20mm to 50mm of rain, was forecast to pass by Thursday. Winds were expected to reach a speed of between 60 and 80km/h.

“Customers lost supply at about 07:00 this morning [Wednesday]. The greater Helderberg area is affected, from Somerset West through to Grabouw, and are currently without supply,” she said.

Staff are on site to assess the damage and restoring power, Da Silva added.

“We have sent operators to the scene and they are assessing the situation.”

Additional outages in the area were as a result of planned maintenance by the City of Cape Town, said City Disaster Risk Management spokesperson Charlotte Powell.

She added that no major incidents had been reported to the Disaster Operations Centre overnight due to the weather.

Shortly after 09:00, Eskom said power had been restored to most affected areas.

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