Emergency services are mopping up after the floods in George, the municipality said on Thursday.
”Generally speaking the situation is under control. There’s a slight drizzle at the moment,” said the acting George municipal manager, Godfrey Louw.
”We still have a few people, about 100 to 150, that we’re housing at community halls. So far we have supplied about 750 people with meals and blankets.”
Louw said damage to infrastructure was estimated at between R11-million and R12-million.
Four people died when their vehicle was swept away on Tuesday when a bridge collapsed in Conville and a fifth person was still missing.
Louw said rescue and mopping up teams were hard at work and had prioritised areas where roads and bridges had been damaged.
He said the Outeniqua Pass and the N2 at Knysna had reopened in the morning.
The main route to the Conville and Roseville areas was cut off due to the bridge collapse but Louw said there was an alternative route.
”The forecast for today [Thursday] is a 30% chance of light rain. We will keep our teams intact.”
Disaster management teams were busy in East London as the heavy rains and strong winds sweeping along the coast reached the city.
Buffalo City municipal spokesperson Mamnkeli Ngam said officials were still taking stock of damage. Ngam said roofs had been blown off houses in Mdantsane, trees had fallen across roads, some bridges were flooded and there were power failures in Duncan Village.
”Disaster management and law enforcement have cleared some of these areas,” said Ngam. He said there had been no evacuations.
”The weather’s hit us,” said police disaster management coordinator Captain John Fobian.
He said nobody had needed rescuing so far and teams had been removing fallen trees and dealing with downed power lines.
There were also reports of a school which lost its roof in Ngqamakhwe in the former Transkei. – Sapa