Cape Town - With the worst of the inclement weather predicted for today, evacuations of residents in the Drakenstein is under way as the Western Cape has already reported extensive localised flooding with thousands of people displaced.
As the Western Cape Education Department has shut schools across the province, residents brace for a Level 8 storm surge.
The Western Cape government and relevant agencies provided an update on the response to the storms on Wednesday, which have affected large swathes of the province this week.
SA Weather Service senior forecaster Stella Nake said: “We are expecting another intense cold front and another cold front on Friday and another one over the weekend on Saturday. So it’s back-to-back cold fronts that will be affecting the Western Cape.”
Rainfall up to 80-90mm over the south-western parts of the province is predicted for today, with waves expected to reach heights of 4 to 8m, subsiding on Saturday.
The City of Cape Town's Disaster Risk Management spokesperson, Sonica Lategan, said on Thursday morning that it has been a busy night for the Disaster Operations Centre, with dozens of calls about weather-related impacts.
“Apart from flooded and obstructed roadways, there have also been reports of flooding in a number of residential areas, and electricity outages.
“The Disaster Risk Management Centre is aware of wind-related damage to several houses in the Wynberg area. More information will be made available once assessments have been concluded.
“The Disaster Coordinating Team will continue to oversee the City’s response to the inclement weather,” Lategan said.
The public is urged to please report service requests via the City’s voice, text and online channels, so that these can be queued for action by the relevant departments. Any life-threatening emergencies can be reported to the Public Emergency Communication Centre on 021 480 7700.
Premier Alan Winde said communities had been cut off and roads closed as a result of flooding in low-lying areas, but also due to snow on high-lying areas and mountain passes.
He urged the public to adhere to requests to evacuate or to refrain from using certain roads, and not to brave certain bridges.
Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell said the rains and severe winds damaged over 1 000 informal dwellings in Khayelitsha.
“We currently sit with around 4 000-5 000 informal dwellings that’ve been damaged and 15 000 affected people,” he said.
Chief director of Disaster Management Colin Deiner said: “The City of Cape Town has been our biggest challenge up to now. We see it as a major incident. We’ve been working together with the West Coast Disaster Management Centre and the Cederberg Municipality and SARZA to access those places to allow Gift of the Givers to provide food in that area and other humanitarian assistance.”
Eskom restored power to 6 000 clients on Tuesday night into yesterday, and currently there are 11 000 power faults across the province prioritised for repairs, he said.
Deiner said 18 schools were previously closed due to flooding.
“In the health sector, we have fortunately not had too many disruptions, so there have only been some problems in False Bay Hospital (and Khayelitsha Hospital) and electrical disruptions which have been restored and looked after.”
An extensive section of a perimeter wall at the Retreat Day Community Health Centre collapsed due to the strong wind and rain.
Education MEC David Maynier said Cape metro districts, Cape Winelands and Overberg districts, and Circuit 1 and 2 of the West Coast Education District (Malmesbury and Picketberg areas) would be closed today.
“All other schools in the remaining districts will be open unless approval has been granted for closure.”