Cape Winelands residents urged to stay home as crews repair flood damage
The Cape Winelands District Municipality said that despite significant damage to homes and properties by flooding, it was thankful that not a single life had been lost.
The municipality has been pleading with the public to stay home and keep the roads clear this long weekend.
This, officials believe, will help ensure that emergency and clean-up crews can move freely to clear flooded areas.
Damaging winds and torrential downpours have wrought havoc across the Cape this week and while there was no rain on Friday, the wet weather is expected to continue on Saturday.
Cape Winelands District mayor, Elna von Schlicht: “Today’s clear weather will aid the gigantic task of mopping up operations, identifying risky areas, and creating alternate routes where roads have washed away. I know that it is very tempting to take a drive to go have a look at the full rivers and damage that the storms have caused, but I wish to reiterate: Please refrain from traveling along our roads, the rainy weather is not over. By staying off the roads, we can give the maintenance teams the best possible chances of repairing as much as possible before tomorrow’s predicted rain.”
At the same time, Western Cape disaster management officials said that electricity supply in the Overstrand region had been severely affected by the recent storms.
The province’s Disaster Management head, Colin Deiner, said that Eskom had lost four pylons feeding that area.
“Basically from Hermanus all the way around to Gansbaai, they’ve still been trying to repair that, so we are sitting with a situation where for quite a while, there’s been no electricity in that area and it’s very difficult because to try and get pylons from the depot in Houw Hoek up into the mountains there, is a huge challenge.”
Deiner said that technicians were working around the clock to restore power in the affected communities.
“Eskom, in our joint operations meeting last night, were quite happy that there was good progress and hopefully we’ll get that sorted by today.”
-EWN
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