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At least nine properties were destroyed or badly damaged by a fire in the Sunny Cove area between Fish Hoek and Glencairn, April 7 2024. Picture: Gallo Images /Brenton Geach
Once more nature’s fury is upon the Lucky Country — though the Western Cape seems to be getting more than its fair share.
Wildfires threatening to burn the place down one day, a deluge (literally) the next.
People prone to symbolism, or messages from the “Universe”, might say someone was angry with the Cape, again, for some real or imagined infraction of whatever rules the universe plays by.
More likely, it’s just the weather — and it’s always been bad a lot of the time. It’s only that our collective memories are unhappily short.
Two cut-off low pressure systems in six months dumping an unseemly amount of “disruptive rain” on the province seems a little unjust, but then again it’s not as if the other provinces have been spared this time.
KwaZulu-Natal has been hammered by floods and the clogged traffic in Joburg this week is a reminder that it’s not only Capetonians who lose all their mental agility when faced with having to control a vehicle when the roads are wet.
The other side of the coin is that the weather may be getting more extreme, but please don’t tell the climate change deniers or we’ll never get out of this column.
I think the cause is more prosaic. All the hot, bilious air rising like a stink into the heavens from so many violently self-regarding politicians, as we drag ourselves once again to the polls to (not) be reborn, has, in fact, heated the lower atmosphere, triggering a microclimate over the southern tip of Africa.
This has brought storms and wind and tempestuous rain — anything to keep the people busy and away from megaphones and matches. Because the Universe is tired and wants it to be known that we, the people, need to shut up.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
No plot, it’s just weather
Hot air rising, natural and man-made
Once more nature’s fury is upon the Lucky Country — though the Western Cape seems to be getting more than its fair share.
Wildfires threatening to burn the place down one day, a deluge (literally) the next.
People prone to symbolism, or messages from the “Universe”, might say someone was angry with the Cape, again, for some real or imagined infraction of whatever rules the universe plays by.
More likely, it’s just the weather — and it’s always been bad a lot of the time. It’s only that our collective memories are unhappily short.
Two cut-off low pressure systems in six months dumping an unseemly amount of “disruptive rain” on the province seems a little unjust, but then again it’s not as if the other provinces have been spared this time.
KwaZulu-Natal has been hammered by floods and the clogged traffic in Joburg this week is a reminder that it’s not only Capetonians who lose all their mental agility when faced with having to control a vehicle when the roads are wet.
The other side of the coin is that the weather may be getting more extreme, but please don’t tell the climate change deniers or we’ll never get out of this column.
I think the cause is more prosaic. All the hot, bilious air rising like a stink into the heavens from so many violently self-regarding politicians, as we drag ourselves once again to the polls to (not) be reborn, has, in fact, heated the lower atmosphere, triggering a microclimate over the southern tip of Africa.
This has brought storms and wind and tempestuous rain — anything to keep the people busy and away from megaphones and matches. Because the Universe is tired and wants it to be known that we, the people, need to shut up.
Also read:
Storms, wind and fire leave thousands homeless in the Cape
Heavy storms force school closures in Western Cape’s Overberg, Cape winelands, Heidelberg
Gale force winds strip Cape winelands homes of their roofs
Rain and cool weather expected across SA this weekend
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Published by Arena Holdings and distributed with the Financial Mail on the last Thursday of every month except December and January.