Winds of up to 94 km/h batter Walvis Bay

Southwesterly winds as strong as 94 kilometers an hour batter the coastal towns since Tuesday. Fallen trees, walls that collapsed, wind damage to roof structures and dangerous sea conditions that created nightmares for many vessel owners are the result.
On Tuesday, Namport had to dispatch a tug to the vessel anchorage area off the port of Walvis Bay after two fishing vessels, Noro and Westcoast 2, went adrift after coming loose from anchorage.
On Wednesday, Neptunam Marine Services had to scramble to save three marine tour boats moored in the Walvis Bay Waterfront.
One of the boats, Que Sera, of Sunsail Charters lifted her mooring and was drifting. Employees of Sunsail took a second boat, Fairweather, to save the drifting vessel. In the process Fairweather was also sent adrift and collided with a third boat, Husler.
The boats were tem-porarily tied up at the small craft harbour on Wednesday night to prevent further problems as the windy conditions remained strong well after sunset.
Also on Wednesday, the floating mussel processing platform, Kucki, was damaged when an unknown vessel adrift bumped it. Kucki has no engine or steering and is an old fishing vessel that was converted into a floating mussel processing facility.
At Kraatz Marine in Walvis Bay, the vehicle carport collapsed in high winds. There was at least one vehicle parked under the roof structure when it collapsed. The extent of damage to the vehicle/s are unknown.
A palm tree toppled in Theo-Ben Gurirab Av at around 17:00 on Wednesday. The falling tree damaged the garden wall.
At the Walvis Bay Yacht Club, a section of the boundary wall was blown over. At various locations in Walvis Bay roofing felt was blown off buildings. (See pictures on page 5)
∙A Southeasterly wind initially dominated in the morning yesterday, resulting in the coastal towns covered by a dust blanket. Later in the day the Southwesterly wind returned and wind speeds picked at times to as many as 66 km/h.
The winds are expected to subside over the weekend.