Knysna, a town situated on the Garden Route approximately 420km east of Cape Town, is battling a huge blaze sweeping across dense indigenous forest.
The fire escalated in the early hours of Wednesday, largely fueled by gale force winds ahead of Cape Town’s current storm system.
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As a result of the blaze, national roads have been closed with three deaths also reported in the region.
Knysna’s Eden District Municipality declared that “various fires are out of control” in a statement on Wednesday.
While Twitter for much of today featured #CapeStorm as the top trending topic, #Knysna and #KnysnaFire can now be seen on users’ timelines across the network.
Knysna has been lashed by gale force winds ahead of the cold front currently affecting Cape Town
Many of these tweets however carry devastating images of the extent of the blaze.
Knysna Fire, June 2017 – Curated tweets by AndyWalkerSA
Instagram doesn’t make for more positive reading either.
A post shared by Jazgar (James) (@jazgar_art) on
A post shared by Lex Faure (@lexfaure) on
Truly massive bush fire adjacent to the N2 between #Sedgefield and #Knysna #GardenRoute #SouthAfrica
A post shared by Dick Muller (@rjm1946) on
At the time of writing, the fire is surrounding the town, flanking Sedgefield to its west and Plettenberg Bay its east, according to Meraka Institute’s Advanced Fire Information Service. (Note: see feature image).
Knysna is forecast to receive rain within the next 24 hours as the cold front that affected Cape Town for much of Wednesday moves east.
Feature image: AFIS
