Western Cape to ask for SANDF help amid deadly floods
The Western Cape provincial government says it will ask President Cyril Ramaphosa to deploy engineers from the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to assist with the rebuilding of bridges.
Heavy storms and torrential rains battered the province over the weekend, leaving a trail of destruction.
More than a dozen people are reported to have died as a result of the inclement weather, while more than 1000 households have been affected by the storms.
Mop-up operations are underway as teams begin assessing the extent of the damage.
Western Cape Local Government MEC Anton Bredell said on Tuesday they first need to do damage assessment before calling for a national disaster.
"I can confirm that the president did call the premier and offered some help, we will discuss writing to the president to ask that the SANDF engineering department, if they can be released to support on the SANRAL roads so that we can fix the roads as quickly as possible."
Western Cape Education Deputy Director-General Alan Meyer says 16 schools have been closed due to storm damage.
"We have had about 16 schools that have requested to be closed, largely due to damage at schools and roads that have become inaccessible particularly in the rural areas. Districts affected includes Cape Winelands, Overberg and Eden areas.
"We have 152 schools that have been damaged. In total we have 242 schools that have been affected by the storm, this includes low pupil attendance at schools."
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