Chasing the Beast Storm

I've mentioned in previous posts that when it storms in Cape Town, they say it storms. Or for example, Steve said, "I promise you that when this weekend is over you can say I'm wrong if you haven't witnessed the most terrifying storm of your life." I love storms, by the way, so this naturally had me intrigued.

The news sites got a little out of hand, forecasting that this weekend would be a 50-year event. Those that were more cautious simply called it a 'beast' of a storm, but the general consensus was that we'd be witnessing winds of 60 mph and waves ranging between 20 and 30 feet high. You can imagine my glee.

Some friends arranged a storm chasing expedition (another thing I'm always keen for). Saturday morning was supposed to be real bad, and would linger throughout the day. Sunday, however would be the 'creature', 'beast', or 'monster'. Whichever animalistic term you prefer. We arranged the excursion for Saturday afternoon, driving in Steve's Toyota Prado.

The Chasers. Ready to rock.

The first stop was Sea Point, where the waves were vicious, and you could hardly stand in one spot from the wind. Much of our trip saw winds like this, but we managed to avoid the wild downpours that characterized the rest of the weekend. This was actually great though, since it allowed me to use my Nikon with less fear of it being totally ruined. You'll recall that my underwater camera was lost to the ocean. Here are some shots from Sea Point:

Tons of sea foam (not the color) blowing onto the walkway!

Rob was prepared. And loving it.

We moved on and also visited Hout Bay, Kalk Bay, Clifton (very top photo), and Camp's Bay. In terms of the trip, the waves were big, but not as big as they said they'd be. That may be because the brunt of the storm hit on Saturday morning when I was asleep, but that shouldn't matter... Sunday was the prize. However, absolutely nothing happened on Sunday. It just rained in the morning. Bummer.

Winding along the coast, in search of deadly hurricanes.

Although part of that is good, because certain parts of the city are really prone to flooding, especially the townships and other informal housing settlements. You figure that most of the houses are already not build to withstand the extreme weather, and in a huge, expansive area of paved roads and highly concentrated houses (both formal and informal), there is very little exposed soil that can absorb water. So the Cape Flats flood every year, which is very unfortunate, and requires disaster management in the area to be on alert for every big storm.

Housing near Hout Bay.

But you can't stop the storms, so one will still come. I'm yet to see "the most terrifying storm of my life", but it could still happen while I'm here. Perhaps when the next one hits I'll be in my rain coat with a mini-umbrella hat and a wind speedometer in my hand. I'll blog about it from the top of a mountain. By the way, we ended our trip with hot chocolate. I also got soup because I'm fat. Whatever.

Storm chasing is hard work.

Click for the rest of the photos.