Senior government officials met in Robertson east of Cape Town on Monday to put a monetary value to the damage caused by last week’s devastating floods in the area.
A representative for the Ministry of Provincial and Local Government Brent Simons said on Monday that damage to infrastructure including roads and bridges would be assessed.
”Obviously the government will set aside funds for the repair of these damages, in view of the fact that the areas have been declared disaster zones,” Simons said.
”It will also allow NGOs (non-governmental organisations) to raise funds on behalf of those affected by the disaster,” Simons said.
A task team has also been appointed to investigate the extent of the flood damage to the environment in the affected areas, Western Cape Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Johan Gelderblom said at the weekend.
This means that permission will first have to be obtained from the Departmnt of Development Planning before proceeding with repairs to dams and dam walls in case any changes affect the environment.
Meanwhile, a representative for the disaster information centre in Ashton, Erna Steytler, said on Monday that mopping up operations were continuing virtually non-stop.
”Municipal workers are working furiously to repair the Kogmanskloof road, the main point of entry into Montagu from Cape Town,” Steytler said.
She said construction workers had worked throughout the whole of Saturday. Steytler said that while all electricity, telephone and sewerage services had been restored to Montagu, rural areas were still cut off but farmers got around in four-wheel-drive vehicles.
She said one farmer, Flip Fourie, lost about 80 cows and 70 young sheep when one of the dams near his farm Gansvlei overflowed last week. Steytler said Fourie and his wife were not on their farm at the time. – Sapa