An unusually large south Atlantic storm struck the southern coast of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

on 7 June 2017 with wind gusts as high as 120 km/h. Wave heights of 9–12 metres were recorded between

Cape Columbine Cape Columbine is well known for its lighthouse, the last staffed lighthouse built on the South African coast The Cape Columbine Lighthouse was commissioned on October 1, 1936. Both the headland and lighthouse derive their name from the barque ...

and

Cape Agulhas Cape Agulhas (; , "Cape of Needles") is a rocky headland in Western Cape, South Africa. It is the geographic southern tip of Africa and the beginning of the traditional dividing line between the Atlantic and Indian oceans according to the In ...

. The storm directly caused eight deaths and damaged 135 schools across the Western Cape. Around 800 homes were flooded across the city of

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

due to the storm. Despite dropping up to 50 mm of rain, the storm did not break the

Cape Town water crisis The Cape Town water crisis in South Africa was a multi-year period in 2015–2020 of water shortage in the Western Cape region, most notably affecting the City of Cape Town. Dam water levels began decreasing in 2015 and the Cape Town water crisi ...

affecting the region.

Knysna fires

High winds of 50 km/h caused by the storm fueled around 20 to 30 significant fires that swept through the town of

Knysna Knysna (; ) is a town with 76,150 inhabitants (2019 mid-year estimates) in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is one of the destinations on the loosely defined Garden Route tourist route. It is situated 60 kilometres east of the c ...

and surrounding areas in the days after the storm. The fires killed seven people and displaced around 10,000 with around 600 structures in Knysna and Plettenberg Bay being destroyed. The fires were notable for involving the largest deployment of firefighters in South Africa to that date. A total of 985 firefighters along with 78 vehicles, ten helicopters, and two fixed winged aircraft were used in combating the fire between 6 June and 10 June 2017. It is estimated that the fires caused between R4 billion and R5 billion (around US$297 million to US$372 million) in damages to private property with an additional R136 million worth of damage done to public infrastructure. Unofficial preliminary conjecture suggested that some of the fires might have been lit by arsonists. However, it was later found that the fires started as a result of lightning. Forensic scientist Dr David Klatzow ruled out arson as the cause of the Knysna fires which killed seven people and left many homeless.

References

{{reflist 2017 wildfires Storms in South Africa 2017 in South Africa June 2017 in South Africa Wildfires in South Africa 2017 disasters in South Africa 2010s fires in Africa 2017 fires

Knysna fires

See also

References