While the rest of South Africa spent last night enjoying the lunar eclipse, Cape Town was battered by a storm that dropped as much as 50mm of rain in the space of a few hours in places. The storm was accompanied by gale force winds and lighting that have caused widespread damage in parts of the city.

Cape Town city officials have said they have received reports of damaged houses in Parkwood, Brackenfell and as far as Hout Bay.

It’s also believed that the informal settlements would have been badly affected too but reports were yet to come in.

The storm ravaged the entire peninsula for the better part of the day but unleashed its full fury during the course of the early evening and right throughout the night.

Disaster officials have said they will today be assessing damage caused by the heavy rains that were accompanied by strong winds and lightning.

City of Cape Town Disaster Services representative Mandy Thomas:

Disaster management has received reports of roofs blown off by the high wind in Parkwood last night [Wednesday].

A house was damaged in Brackenfell due to lightning as well as power lines were damaged because of the lightning.

It’s normally quite a special event when Cape Town gets some lighting across its skies, but not this time.

The storm is now making its way eastward across the interior of the country so brace yourselves.

[Source: EWN]