Cape weather wreaks havoc
2008-07-09 08:29
Maygene de Wee, Sarietha Engelbrecht, Nurene Jassiem, Tisha Steyn, and Rozanne Els
Cape Town - The inclement weather that has been raging in the Western Cape for the past few days may result in parts of the province being declared disaster areas.
On Tuesday, residents of Vredendal on the West Coast were told by a group of provincial road engineers that the town was cut off from the outside world.
The last road providing access to the town between Vanrhynsdorp and Vredendal was closed after engineers found the road surface to be unstable. Matzikama municipality manager, Dean O'Neil, said the bottom layers of the road were "soaked in water".
By Tuesday morning all roads leading to Vredendal from Lutzville, Klawer, Strandfontein, Ebenhaeser and Doringbaai, had also been closed.
O'Neil could not say when any of the roads would be reopened to traffic. "We will have to wait for the water to recede."
Initially on Tuesday, a few residents and emergency vehicles were allowed to use the road, but this was eventually stopped too.
About 360 residents from Vredendal, whose homes were flooded, have found shelter in local community halls.
An Oryx helicopter from the air force base at Ysterplaat helped residents of Citrusdal, who had been stranded on farms in the area.
Air force base spokesperson, Captain Jacqueline van Schalkwyk said they had received a call from provincial disaster management early on Tuesday.
Residents cause chaos
The helicopter was also used to help repair boreholes, which supply water to the town, after the electricity supply broke down between the dam and the boreholes.
The Boontjiesrivier Road and the Botrivier road at Citrusdal, which have been flooded since Sunday, were still inaccessible on Tuesday.
Cape Town disaster management said about 22 000 people from 70 informal settlements in the Cape Metropole have been left homeless. About 5 200 structures have been flooded. City employees are busy pumping dammed-up water from informal settlements.
Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool said he and his government were busy estimating the extent of the damage.
A provincial traffic spokesperson said the Faure road between Landsdowne Road and Mew Way was closed for an hour-and-a-half around18:40 after Khayelitsha residents caused chaos on the road by setting alight tyres.
The residents were apparently unhappy as their homes had been flooded the past few days. They claimed government was doing nothing to help them.
Parts of Bellville were without power on Tuesday afternoon after maintenance work to the Oakdale Substation was affected by the weather. "We were busy working on one of the transformers and the second transformer was supposed to kick in, but because of the cold weather, the second transformer's overload safety mechanism was triggered," said Marius van der Westhuizen of the electrical infrastructure department of the Cape Town Council.
Snow in Oudtshoorn
By Tuesday evening, 90% of Bellville's power had been restored and according to Van der Westhuizen, only smaller businesses in the area did not yet have power.
The Southern Cape was still in the grip of biting cold, with snow already covering the mountains in Ladismith. Snow is expected in Oudtshoorn and temperatures are expected to drop to 4?C. Cold, rain and gale force winds have been forecast for the area, but no flooding is expected.
The Floriskraaldam in Laingsburg is overflowing but it has not yet been deemed necessary to open the sluices.
Snow has fallen on the Kroonlandberg near Villiersdop and the rest of the Western Cape was shivering with cold. Emergency services officials have given the assurance that they are ready to be of assistance in Stellenbsoch, the Overstrand and Overberg as well as Worcester.
In Citrusdal, 400 families have been affected.
Provincial ministers this week visited the areas most affected by floods. They are also going to more remote areas by helicopter on Wednesday to take stock of the impact of the floods.
Their report will be given to Rasool, who will try to determine the damage on several levels to help the provincial government reach a decision about whether places should be declared disaster areas.