Strong winds blow our town into chaos

Strong winds left Vryheid without electricity for hours on Monday, amid a few veld fires on the outskirts of town. Vryheid is one of many towns in the country to be affected by severely strong winds and extreme cold. Several electrical poles were blown over, which saw different areas in town having to fend for themselves in the freezing cold without electricity. The municipality attributed the power outages to the heavy winds that broke trees which, in turn, fell on power lines. Electricians worked tirelessly to restore the power as soon as possible, while AbaQulusi Fire & Rescue had their hands full containing all the fires in the area. In approximately the same month in 1984, give or take a week or so, the Vryheid Gazette documented heavy snowfall that covered the town in an unbelievable white blanket of dust-like feathers that fell from the sky. According to the older residents, Vryheid gets snow about every 50 years. Before 1984, the previous snowfall was in 1934 and at that time, the ‘weather prophets’ proclaimed that the next snowfall would be in 2034 – which is 10 years from now. Feeling the sudden drop in temperature and the ‘unruly’ weather conditions, maybe the ‘prophets’ were wrong and Vryheid may still get some ‘white fluff’ in 2024… Who knows!

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The news provided to you in this link comes to you from the editorial staff of the Vryheid Herald, a sold newspaper distributed in the Vryheid area.