Severe weather conditions in the Western Cape have led to the death of eight people after they were reportedly electrocuted following heavy flooding in different areas around Cape Town. Meanwhile Disaster management teams are searching for three other people who were reportedly swept away by heavy floods.

NOT LOOKING GOOD

The head of the City of Cape Town's disaster management, Charlotte Powell, confirmed that eight people were electrocuted due to illegal electricity connections and heavy flooding. "Four of them died in the Covid-19 informal settlement in Driftsands, while the other four died in the Klipfontein area," she said. Powell, said emergency services officials helped four people who were trapped in a house in Strand where the roof was blown off. Houses were flooded in several areas, including Durbanville, Bo-Kaap, Schaapkraal, Bellville South, Belhar, Sandvlei Macassar, Strand, Gordon's Bay, and Knorhoek,"she said. Powell said flooding was also reported in informal settlements, including Shukushukma; Sir Lowry's Pass Village; Rasta Camp; Riemvasmaak; 7de Laan in Sandvlei, Macassar; Old Faure Road in Driftsands; Mfuleni; and Bellville South. In addition, the City received reports of uprooted trees in Hout Bay Main Road, Macassar, Rondebosch East, Durbanville, Kuilsriver, Woodstock, Klipheuwel IFS and Malmesbury farms. "The recreation and parks department are responding to remove falling trees," Powell added. At Wemmershoek Dam, the sluice gate has been opened to mitigate downstream flooding, "she said. Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell said things were not looking good. He explained that one person was swept away in the Groot Brakrivier. "The part of the road with the bridge was washed away with a car on it. There were two people in the car, and they managed to save one. They are still looking for the other one, but it doesn't look good." He said the other two people were reported missing Villiersdorp.

POWER OUTAGES

City of Cape Town spokesperson Janine Willemans said the people were experiencing power cuts and damage to infrastructure due to the severe weather. She said teams attended to outages in Philippi, Gugulethu, Eastridge, Steenberg, Wetton, Bellville, Plattekloof, Green Point and Pinati Estate. "Teams are doing their best to assist as fast as possible. Storm-related damage often leads to area outages and restoration time is unfortunately impacted due to the damaged infrastructure and stormy weather. Some work on faults related to damaged overhead lines is also dependent on weather conditions improving due to safety considerations. Eskom's load shedding can also impact service request volumes and restoration times," she said. MEC Bredell said the extensive road closures were a concern to them. "All the teams are on standby, and the mopping up will need to happen, but we first need to get through the storm. The next 12 hours are going to very difficult," he added.