WARDA MEYER and MURRAY WILLIAMS Staff Reporters
THE mercury soared into the 30s early today as Cape Town braced for another scorching day after a weekend of searing temperatures.
Rescue services scrambled to help hikers around the city, while the route for the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Mountain Bike Challenge was shortened to protect riders.
Metro Rescue staff responded to at least six reports of tourists in trouble because of the blazing heat. Metro Rescue manager Henry Barlow said his team, based in Pinelands, was called to four incidents at the same time yesterday, rushing around the city's hiking trails to help stricken walkers.
His team raced to Platteklip Gorge to help a Swedish woman who had suffered heatstroke.
"We received a call about a Swede who collapsed about 300m from the bottom of Platteklip Gorge just before 1pm, while a 25-year-old man, also Swedish, who was about 100m from the top, suffered the same fate," he said.
A Skymed helicopter took the two Swedes to hospital and another man with heatstroke was airlifted off the mountain. The head of Emergency Medical Services in the Western Cape, Dr Cleeve Robertson, said today that too many people were not properly prepared for climbing in the heat.
"Too many people are going up the mountain unprepared. There's very little natural water on the mountain. People must take lots of water and only walk in the early mornings and evenings."
In the Southern Cape, an elderly woman hiker was airlifted off the Swartberg mountains suffering from dehydration. Gerhard Otto, head of disaster management for the Eden District Municipality, said the oppressive heat was not helping the region's dire water shortage.
"Knysna and Bitou (Plettenberg Bay) are still in the red category - which means they have only three months or less water supply. George, Mossel Bay, Hessequa and Kannaland have six months or less water supply."
Meanwhile, 42°C heat saw the course changed for some riders in yesterday's leg of the two-day Cape Argus Pick n Pay Mountain Bike Challenge. Organisers redirected riders in the 55km race at Boschendal wine estate between Paarl and Franschhoek after temperatures climbed to 42°C on the course and 36°C in the shade before midday. David Bellairs, co-director of the Cape Town Cycle Tour Trust, said riders in the 55km race who had not reached the 32km mark by 10.30am were redirected so that they only rode 35km. He called the re-routing a "medical decision".
Temperatures are expected to start dropping tomorrow and rain is predicted for Wednesday.
This article was published by The Cape Argus on the 8 March 2010.
