A powerful winter storm sweeping across large parts of South Africa has caused widespread power outages, with the Western Cape worst affected after the South African Weather Service issued warnings for damaging winds and disruptive rainfall.
Eskom said on Monday that heavy rain and flooding had left customers across the Cape Metro, Cape Winelands and Boland, Garden Route, Overberg and Overstrand, and West Coast regions without electricity. The outages follow what the utility described as the “heroic efforts” of its operators to restore supply to parts of the Garden Route and Klein Karoo in similar conditions over the past week.
In the Cape Metro, faults have hit Eersterivier, Lynedoch and parts of Khayelitsha. Areas affected in the Cape Winelands and Boland include Breerivier, Ceres, De Doorns and surrounding farms and traction stations, Touwsrivier, Klapmuts, Rawsonville and surrounding farms, Witzenberg, Wolseley, Tulbagh and Villiersdorp.
Along the Garden Route, the outages extend through Albertinia, Karatara, Meiringspoort, Robberg, Sedgefield, Riversdale and Stilbaai.
In the Overberg and Overstrand, affected areas include Betty’s Bay, Bredasdorp, Caledon, Greyton, Elgin, Hawston, Houw Hoek, Hermanus, Kleinmond, Napier, Onrus, Pringle Bay, Riviersonderend and surrounding farms, and Vermont. On the West Coast, faults have been reported in Citrusdal, Lambert’s Bay, Vredendal, Wellington and surrounding farms.
“Eskom recovery teams are conducting fault finding while closely monitoring the weather,” the utility said. “It is likely that restoration efforts will be delayed due to unsafe conditions.”
Winter demand
The storm has also disrupted supply in the Eastern Cape’s Sarah Baartman District, where teams are working across parts of Humansdorp and Joubertina. Eskom said some areas, including Mosterhoek, Rebelsrus and Smithtown, remained without power, although plans were in place to restore supply to all affected communities.
In the Northern Cape, a separate weather-related outage has hit the Springbok District after damage to five pole structures along the Nama 66kV line. Substations at Groenbank, Alfa, Henkries and Henkriesmond have been affected, leaving customers in Steinkopf, Vioolsdrift, Rooiwal, Goodhouse and at the Namapower border post without electricity. Eskom said an expected time of restoration was not yet known.
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The storm-driven outages come as Eskom contends with rising winter demand on the national grid. In a power system update issued on Friday, the utility said evening peak demand had at times reached nearly 2GW above anticipated levels as temperatures dropped and consumption surged. Despite this, the system had remained stable, with Eskom reiterating its winter outlook projection of no load shedding for the period from 1 April to 31 August 2026. – (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media
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