On the evening of Sunday 6 February, Aberdeen was ravaged by another ferocious storm, while many residents are still trying to recover from the hail storm just before Christmas. Torrential rain, thunder and lightning and gusting winds this time attacked the town from the Graaff-Reinet side, uprooting several trees and, in at least one case, causing a roof to be completely blown off.
Piet Roux, a 77 year old pensioner from Grey Street, was startled by a tremendous noise during the storm and was horrified to discover that the roof of the cottage on his property had been completely blown off by a freak gust of wind! The 100m² roof landed in his garden, knocking over several pots, but fortunately not causing any damage to the main house. Roux estimates that the repairs will cost at least R50 000 – and he still has to replace about 80m of guttering on the main house from December’s hail storm.
Another casualty was the Tarantula viewing platform hanging from the NGK tower. The wind caused this to blow off to one side, with the wires tangled – it was subsequently removed on Monday morning for repair.
The whole town also suffered a lengthy power cut. For over an hour in the early evening the power levels fluctuated dramatically, until eventually at 7.15pm the power went off totally. Apparently this was caused by a lightning strike. Power was only restored just after 1am the next morning.
Article By: Sue Shaw