Tsitsikamma district residents in the Eastern Cape are being evacuated by Cacadu’s disaster management due to heavy rains, the South African Weather Service said on Friday.
”The R61 and R62 are still closed. One lane is open on the N2 between Port Elizabeth and Cape Town,” spokesperson Garth Sampson said.
Earlier, Sampson said the rains were set to continue along the west of Algoa Bay and along the South Coast as well.
”Flooding has been reported from various places along Algoa Bay and Plettenberg Bay … heavy rain warnings were also issued for the west of Port Elizabeth.” Sampson said.
He said that people travelling to Plettenberg Bay and through the Garden Route were advised to delay their journeys due to localised flooding and poor driving conditions.
About 1 000 people were evacuated from their homes and sections of the N2 near George were closed as heavy rains continued to pelt down.
Eden district disaster official Gerhard Otto said the Red Cross was assisting with blankets and mattresses for those affected, mostly from low-income areas in Knynsa, Sedgfield and Plettenberg Bay.
Overberg district municipality’s disaster-management spokesperson Reinard Geldenhuys said that there had been no evacuations for the last two days.
”Things have eased off quite a bit in the Overberg area,” Geldenhuys said.
He said that the disaster management team would still remain on high alert. — Sapa