Constantia Valley roads were practically deserted on Wednesday morning as people battened down the hatches awaiting the predicted storm.
Gutters overflowed with pine needles, branches and leaves and pavements were strewn with broken branches as the area resembled a war zone of nature after Tuesday night’s heavy wind and rain.
At Bergvliet High School, the roof of the sports pavilion was literally ripped off its trusses, sheets of zinc flung two roads away, part of it obliterating the sliding gate of a house on the corner of Greyton and Montague roads.
As the remaining roof sheets thundered to get free, Gary “Ou Boet” Thomas, caretaker and custodian for the past 17 years and who lives on the property, said it blew off early in the morning. “It sounded like the end of the world, a tornado,” he said.
Egyptian geese and guinea fowl gorged themselves on grubs from the sports field, strewn with branches, one of which had damaged the fence.
While the Bulletin was at the school, we saw Martin Thomas from the insurance company but principal, Stephen Price, had not yet arrived.
Early this morning, Dick Burton Road was closed at the junction to Prince George Drive after a gum tree fell on Plumstead High School’s fence, blocking the road and ripping telephone cables from their poles.
In Boundary Road, a section of vibracrete wall surrounding a house had crumbled into a pile.