The Western Cape Government has approached the National Disaster Risk Management Centre for a provincial disaster classification.
This, as a third cold front accompanied by rains this week, is scheduled to hit the Province this afternoon until tomorrow.
About 100, 000 people were affected by recent floods, and 33, 000 structures were damaged, this emerged at today’s Joint Operations Centre (JOC) meeting, he’d in Cape Town.
In a statement earlier today, MEC Anton Bredell
Western Cape MEC of Local Government, said
“we have approached the National Disaster Management Centre for a provincial disaster classification, and expect an announcement on this soon.”
The South African Weather Service (SAWS) has released another Level 6 warning for disruptive rain in the Cape Winelands areas, including Drakenstein, Stellenbosch and Witzenberg on Saturday and Sunday.
Rainfall is estimated at between 60 to 100mm in the mountain areas.
Citrusdal is currently cut off from all access routes, and authorities are attending to this situation. Provincial traffic services are allocating additional resources to provide support. The Department of Water and Sanitation reported that dam and river levels continue to rise.
The Breede River at Swellendam is currently flowing at more than 1000m³ per second, which is at a level where the river could start to breach its banks. Larger volumes of water are expected to come down the river in the coming days.
The Clanwilliam Dam in the Olifants River is currently at 107%, and the controlled release of 1100m³ per second is being implemented.
In Laingsburg, the Floriskraal Dam is at 118%, and communities in the immediate downstream vicinity have been alerted of the risk of flooding.
The Berg River Dam is currently at 103%, and a flow volume of 396m³ was measured at Paarl in the Berg River this morning.
The Theewaterskloof Dam is currently 90% full.
Voëlvlei Dam is at 79% full.
Picture: Picture of a road in Wolsley, Witzenberg Municipality