Cape Town - Reconstruction of roads and other integral infrastructure severely damaged by rain during several cold fronts that hit the Western Cape, has begun.
The floods severely affected areas in the West Coast, Overberg and Cape Winelands districts, prompting emergency evacuations and the rush to locate and distribute aid to hardest-affected communities.
On Wednesday afternoon, parts of the Citrusdal community saw power restored after Eskom technicians with the SANDF arrived via helicopter to repair damaged power poles and lines.
The Cederberg Local Municipality, however, said it would be switching the power on in phases to avert the power from tripping again.
Reconstruction of the Citrusdal main road has also started. Sharing on Facebook, the project supervisor from the West Coast District Municipality, Maxwin Le Fleur, said the reconstruction project would include repair to the main road and relocation and repair of the riverbanks.
Meanwhile, Gift of the Givers has been consistently on the ground since June 9, active in 41 areas affected by severe flooding, distributing aid to communities along the N1, N2 and N7.
Project manager Ali Sablay said the SANDF assisted their teams in taking aid via helicopter to seven areas along the N7, yesterday.
Sablay said there was still an urgent need for blankets, mattresses and non-perishable food items.
Department of Health and Wellness spokesperson Maret Lesch said no infrastructure damage had been reported at any of the department’s health facilities.
“Although some facilities experienced roof leaks and minor flooding, no evacuations were required. However, some facilities have experienced power outages, but are using back-up power sources to continue with service delivery,” Lesch said.
“Due to the heavy rains and flooded roads, some of the routes in rural areas serviced by mobile clinics have been affected, but services will continue as soon as it is safe to do so.”
Social Development Department spokesperson Monique Mortlock-Malgas said the department had not received any reports of its facilities such as old age homes and child and youth care centres, requiring evacuations or being badly affected.
She said teams were in the West Coast area providing psycho-social support to affected victims.
“Some towns like Citrusdal, Ebenezer and rural parts in Matzikama and the Cederberg are still cut off from main areas due to the impact of the weather.
“Some staff cannot get to work in these areas due to muddy and bad roads. We had to cancel some programmes in these areas. Staff provided psycho-social support where needed.”
The City of Cape Town said operations at some cemeteries would be affected by the adverse weather conditions in that there might be a need to prepare more shallow graves depending on the water levels. The City said this would limit the chances of burying a second coffin in the same private grave.