Meteor Explosion Over Cape Town – “We Thought It Was Another Flare”

More witnesses have revealed what they saw or heard last night when a meteor apparently exploded over Cape Town, as reported by SAPeople. With the recent fires in the Overberg region, it  turns out that many feared it was another flare.

Janeke Maroudas was sitting at home in Vermont, Hermanus and captured this photo:

“I took it from my courtyard. I happened to be sitting outside and saw this light in the sky… thinking it was some idiot shooting a flare again (that’s why I took a picture) as we have had all these disastrous fires here lately,” Janeke told SAPeople.

“And then I saw the 2 clouds of smoke and heard the explosion.

“I suppose I was just at the right place at the right time ?‍♀️?”

Penny van Zyl from Noordhoek also thought it was a flare at first.

“It shot over our roof, then over the roof of the neighbour above us, and then disappeared in the direction of the retirement village and Ou Kaapse Weg.”

Speaking to SAPeople, Penny said: “I contacted our Neighbourhood watch and Rapid Response Team – I’m an active member of both- to say I saw what I thought was a flare heading toward the retirement home. A few of our members saw it too and a flare can cause havoc on landing – we have had horrific fires in the Overberg region – and the fire in Betty’s Bay was caused by a man letting off a flare. (He has been arrested and charged with manslaughter as one person died in the fire and over 31 homes burnt down.)

“With this in mind I was worried about a fire starting if it landed on the mountain. I drove up to the retirement village and checked along the back fence, then drove up Ou Kaapse Web, checking to see if there were signs of smoke – saw nothing at all.

“Still concerned that it was a flare, I put a post on our Noordhoek Community Forum Page asking if anyone saw the flare or had any details – and so many people saw it from all over the peninsula and what I saw was not a flare but a meteor!

“People from all over Cape Town then posted tweets about seeing a flash of fiery red/orange shooting across the sky and it seems it made landfall in the HERMANUS area.

“Meteorologists were tracking its path as well… so from seeing what I thought was a simple flare (and being furious that someone could be that stupid to light a flare in a built up area and the consequence of perhaps setting the mountain on fire) it was a meteor instead.

“It flew really close to our roof and the neighbour higher up – just missed his roof as well. Our homes are right up on the mountain in Noordhoek – so no wonder we were in the flight path!”