We get our fair share of wind down here in the Cape.
Infamously known as the South Easter, high speeds of up to 160km/h have been recorded around the Table Bay area – but, like, that’s over the sea.
On land, as winds make their way from False Bay and funnel through to Cape Town, winds reach up to around 110km/h – which is nothing compared to the 140km/h gales experienced in Netherlands yesterday.
So far, at least nine people in Netherlands, Germany and Belgium have died as Storm Friederike (so-called in Germany) rages through northern Europe, reports The Guardian:
Al Jazeera reports others have been injured, including three people who were hurt by falling ceiling panels at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.
In Rotterdam, shipping containers were toppled and roofs ripped off homes. Europe’s busiest cargo port was “virtually unreachable from the north” because of traffic holdups on three of the main motorways into the city, the national traffic service VID said. At least 25 large freight trucks had been knocked on their sides by the winds, causing huge traffic jams on six of the country’s main roads.
From toppling trees and trucks to bringing down power lines, grounding aircrafts and halting road and rail traffic, citizens took the time to record destruction in real time:
https://twitter.com/jboef/status/953934955603734529
https://twitter.com/edwinsiesem/status/953927389884579840
https://twitter.com/tensioncoach/status/953918764386570240
https://twitter.com/Kotiangyc/status/953961478398402563
https://twitter.com/RichardMaasdijk/status/953945054581788672
https://twitter.com/adhdinah/status/953945824769269761
https://twitter.com/Wouter_Kamp/status/953925238936530944
Hectic.
Almost makes Vredehoek look bearable.
[source:mashable&theguardian]
