Torrid time for Tim by Jay Wynne
Once again the weather has come to the rescue of Britain’s number one tennis player Tim Henman. The clay season kicked off on Monday in Monte Carlo under rather grey and drizzly skies. Henman's first round opponent, Argentinian Mariamo Zabaleta, took advantage of the slow conditions and raced to a one set lead. Things were not looking good for the British player when he was broken again early on in the second set. Luckily the heavens opened and rain stopped play. The match continues today and with more showers forecast Tim Henman will need to prepare for further interruptions.
Other parts of central Mediterranean have also been experiencing some very unsettled weather over the last few days. Over 3 inches of rain have fallen on the holiday island of Corsica since Monday, well in excess of the April average of 65mm. The same low pressure system brought torrential downpours across North Africa with Tunisia and Algeria experiencing the worst of the weather. Eight metre high waves were whipped up on Monday night and five sailors died when a cargo vessel sank in the storm just off the Algerian coast line.
Whilst spring storms have taken hold in Europe, an autumn storm has been lashing the Cape region of South Africa. Cape Agulhas was declared a disaster area on Monday as the rain flooded rivers, roads and homes. Many daily rainfall records were broken and the region was effectively cut off from the outside world. The low responsible is forecast to clear away to the southeast of the country and with high pressure then building it will be drier across the Cape by midweek.
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