Gale-force winds with gusts of up to 80km/h lashed Cape Town and kept the city's fire and emergency rescue services on high alert as trees were uprooted and roofs were blown off buildings.

The most badly affected area was the city centre and the surrounding suburbs of Zonneblom and Gardens, where at least six properties had all or parts of their roofs blown off.

The offices of King James Advertising at Wembley Square in Gardens, where The Times is located, were left open to the elements and computer equipment had to be moved off desks. Mangled metal roof sheeting lay in the road below, some on top of a Citi Golf.

Disaster management services head Greg Pillay said his team had responded to numerous reports of roofing blowing off since 7am.

"This includes Wembley Square, Vista Primary School in the Bo-Kaap, the Park Inn Hotel in Greenmarket Square, Glen Alpine flats in Gardens and the Velocity Films building in the CBD. Power lines are down in Geneva Drive in Camps Bay and the electricity department is attending," he said.

In Fish Hoek, a roof of a sports complex also took a beating from the south-easter. Traffic services closed off a road in Vredehoek where a tree had fallen across the road, and in Long Street where fire services were securing roofs.

Remarkably, Pillay said, there had been no reports of deaths or injuries. However, howling winds and the sound of metal sheets smashing against each other kept some residents awake.

Said Wembley Square resident Lauren Kohn: "I sleep with earplugs in and I still woke up at 5am because of the loud banging."

Cape Town traffic department spokesman Kevin Jacobs said Baden Powell Drive in Strandfontein had been closed to traffic "due to sea sand which has completely covered the road, car-high in some places".

While gale-force winds are expected to have subsided in Cape Town by this morning, Stella Nake, SA Weather Service forecaster, said this did not include Cape Point and Cape Agulhas.

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