Hottest day and hottest city

Last night the wind dropped, paving the way for the hottest day in 100 years and making Cape Town the hottest city on the planet today (remember the northern hemisphere is just coming out of winter) at 42 degrees. The raging fires across the Peninsula have left not a blade of grass or leaf in place and after chasing from False Bay to Hout Bay in a galeforce southeaster, the wind shifted to northeast overnight and a barely perceptible northwest all day. This had the effect of turning the flames back for another go at whatever vegetation had been missed on the way, and so devastating damage in Hout Bay, Tokai, Noordhoek and now Clovelly and Kalk Bay have been keeping the social media buzzing today. Volunteers are being called for in all areas, and riders were gathered to ride the horses out of the upper reaches of Tokai to safer pastures. Residents have donated time, equipment, food and money to support the firefighting effort, and helicopters have been water bombing from dawn to dusk at a horrendous cost of R2.4 million an hour.

The smoke you see here is on the upper slopes of the pine plantation in Tokai which I presume are now completely destroyed,  and the famous Constantia wine estates are under threat. The fire has returned to Kalk Bay and Clovelly where it is burning furiously and firefighters are still working round the clock, with 250 additional personnel having been brought in from other provinces. 

My mother and father live on the upper slopes at Clovelly and have a few things stashed in the cars, but at present are not in a flap and have not been approached by Disaster Management to evacuate. That could change, but all is in hand and they are pretty relaxed. Rain is forecast for 8 o'clock tomorrow morning - who knows?

On a less dramatic note, my pride and joy, the coriander plants that I grew from last season's seeds and which have just reached picking stage, were scorched to a crisp in today's record heat. I stripped the crumbling leaves from the stems and put them straight into the pot of curry I made for supper, and how delicious it was! So a happy ending to that little story.

Let's hope tomorrow brings relief to our firefighters, the remaining vegetation of the Peninsula and the poor stressed commuters who have either not been able to get to work/school because of no roads being available, or have spent up to 6 hours a day in hot cars to do just that.