Cape Town - Western Cape communities, cut off and isolated as a result of severely damaged and flooded roads, are experiencing a humanitarian crisis.
This crisis has resulted in a rush to reach communities with the necessary aid with local, provincial and NGOs banding together to save lives.
Inclement weather majorly affected areas in the Cape Winelands, Overberg and West Coast Districts from June 14-19, prompting emergency evacuations in several communities.
The Western Cape Disaster Management Centre with Premier Alan Winde and Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell met yesterday to provide a situational report and response to the widespread disaster.
According to a report received at 5.30am on Tuesday, Winde said eight roads had reopened, seven partially reopened, and 14 remained closed.
“These are not those minor roads. These are the main arteries that enable people to move around goods and services,” he said.
“I want to thank those teams that are still out there day and night making sure that those roads get opened again, and give access to citizens. There are still people that are cut off wherever they are across this province.”
Jody Wentzel of the Department of Agriculture said there were no accurate estimates on the damages, however the initial damage assessment was “conservatively” estimated at between R750 million and R1 billion.
“The majority of the damages are to irrigation systems and pumps; heavy erosion and damages to riverbanks, and crops that have impacted on production, water quality and availability downstream.”
The lack of access to communities resulted in a massive humanitarian crisis unfolding, said Provincial Disaster Risk Management and Fire Rescue Services deputy director Etienne du Toit.
“Several thousand people were isolated with no immediate relief in sight so there’s also a psychological aspect to that as well, apart from the shortage of goods.”
Chief director Colin Deiner said the storms led to the flooding of formal and informal settlements, flooding of farms and farm communities, damage to road infrastructure, displacement of vulnerable communities, disruption to essential services such as electricity and road closures and disruptions to traffic flow.
In Somerset West, the Eskom sub-station was also affected by flooding. Deiner said due to partnerships with various stakeholders at one point, 45 organisations were represented during joint operation meetings every day.
As of June 19, structures in the Overstrand area were flooded but residents refused evacuation.
Two hospital facilities were affected by power outages in the Mitchells Plain area and were operating on generators.