21 storm-damaged schools remain closed in WC

More than 10 people have died since the weekend.

Destructive weather pummeled homes, washed away bridges, damaged several farms, and destroyed key infrastructure.

On Wednesday afternoon, Western Cape officials from the health, infrastructure, social development, education, and agriculture departments – led by Premier Alan Winde, gave an update on areas worst affected by the deadly storm.

More than 82,000 people were without electricity on Monday, with Eskom officials expected to restore power to residents of Khayelitsha and Caledon on Wednesday evening.

The number of roads closed due to damage was also reduced from more than 80 to 72.

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MEC of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning Anton Bredell said they had written to President Cyril Ramaphosa to request support from the army.

“The N1 to De Doorns has been opened. It’s a stop-and-go. At the N2 Bot River, Caledon, we’ve put a letter to the President to ask the SANDF engineer bridge build team to assess and to see if they can come and help us with a mobile bridge to help us. But it will not be built within a day or two.”

EDUCATION

Nearly 250 schools have reported damage, but the number of schools that remained closed dropped from 39 on Tuesday to 21 the next day.

“This is largely due to the inability to access the school grounds. Particularly in the rural areas where the buses cannot get on the various gravel roads to take learners to school [because] it’s still unsafe to do so,” said the department’s Alan Meyer.

Meyer said the department was looking for ways to take food parcels to pupils who were unable to access the school feeding programme due to the closures.

He also said he was relieved that repairs to roads that prevented access to schools were moving swiftly, as grade 12 pupils were due to start their Spring learning and revision program ahead of this year’s final exams.

HEALTH SERVICES

Emergency Medical Services response times have been adversely affected by the bad weather conditions and resultant road closures.

The Health Department’s Dr Saadiq Kariem said forensic pathology, particularly in the Hermanus and Meiringspoort areas, was also affected.

“We have had a high caseload in the metro even prior to the severe weather we’ve experienced. Unfortunately, the movement of bodies will be affected by these road closures.”

Giving an update on the air mercy services during the relief operations, Kariem reported that two Eskom employees had to be airlifted after being stuck on the mountain for two days, while two critically ill children – including a six-week-old infant – had to be airlifted to a hospital.

“We’ve also provided humanitarian support via our air mercy services to McGregor, and in Meiringspoort we airlifted has extracted four people from that area.”

Kariem confirmed some health facilities were operating on skeleton staff due to workers not being able to travel to work.

AGRICULTURE

The Agriculture Department said preliminary assessment placed the value of the damage in the farming community at over R1.2 billion.

The department’s Ashia Peterson said that while some farms would experience partial to total crop losses, it was still too early to give solid figures on the cost of the overall destruction.

The Overberg region faced potential disruption to the upcoming harvest period.

“For Overberg infrastructure losses is R130 million, crop losses (which is mainly livestock and grains). Our Conola farmers are due to harvest in the week or two and the challenge of whether the areas will be ready for harvesting is a challenge.”

Peterson confirmed the Cape Winelands was hardest hit. With just 20% of the farms assessed, the infrastructure damage sat at an estimated R250 million while crop losses – which includes citrus, vineyards, and table grape crops – amounted to nearly R150 million.

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