Heavy rain continued in the southern Cape on Thursday, but without any damage or loss of life reported, police said. ”It is still raining right now. There is no major damage; there is no loss of life today [Thursday],” said Captain Malcolm Pojip.
Earlier on Thursday, the South African Weather Service said the rainfall had eased in the sodden southern Cape, even though more was expected.
In the 24 hours to 8am on Thursday, the weather service in George recorded 11,6mm in Riversdale, compared with Wednesday’s 28mm; 4mm in George (71,5mm on Wednesday); and 18mm in Heidelberg (25mm on Wednesday).
The area was still saturated after recent heavy flooding.
The weather service warned on its website on Thursday of ”persistent widespread rain” along the southern Cape coast and adjacent interior, which could lead to localised flooding.
The disaster manager for the Eden district municipality, Gerhard Otto, said it was still raining on Thursday but the levels of rivers had dropped about 2m below Wednesday’s level. ”We’ve still got people being evacuated.”
Otto said about 160 people who had been evacuated needed to be housed and fed on Wednesday night. Others who had been evacuated were able to return to their homes.
He said the area most affected by the flooding was between Riversdale and Heidelberg.
A municipal joint operations centre (JOC) was set up in George to coordinate the flood measures.
Pojip said no more people were evacuated on Thursday. He said that on Wednesday about 285 people were evacuated from Riverville and Zeekoegat in Riversdale, Slangrivier and a tourist resort in Heidelberg. They spent the night in schools and police stations.
Pojip said there was a helicopter on standby and police were still working with the JOC. ”At this stage we are very fortunate that the levels of water in the rivers that pass through the towns are declin[ing] all the time.”
Meanwhile, rescue personnel were anxiously monitoring two large farm dams in the Swellendam area. The pressure of large volumes of water against cracked, straining walls could see the main road from Swellendam to Robertson cut off.
”This will hamper rescue operations considerably. The cracks are showing [in the dam walls]; water is overflowing,” said Reinard Geldenhuys, disaster manager in the Overberg region. Rescue teams were combing the area, evacuating people from their homes.
”The lower parts of Swellendam are under water. A mudslide also hit a house and we’re trying to find out if there are people inside,” said Geldenhuys.
On Wednesday, about 100 people from 50 households were rescued as heavy rains and flash floods muddied the area. Geldenhuys said some places were ”impassable” because of waist-deep water, swirling up to 3m deep in areas. Several roads remained closed. No injuries or fatalities have been reported thus far.
He said the heavy rains were causing the Buffelsjag and Koringsland rivers to rise.
Rescue personnel from Cape Town were assisting their Overberg colleagues. A South African National Defence Force helicopter was on standby. — Sapa