Recent floods have battered the Eastern Cape and left homes damaged or destroyed, people dead and infrastructure such as bridges and roads impassable and the province says it needs R4.5bn to fix it.
In Chris Hani district, Komani’s Frontier Hospital had to supply emergency help to patients from the flooded Life Queenstown Private Hospital and 75 people were evacuated from Silvertown.
Officials said municipal officials and Gift of the Givers had helped 1,000 people, including children and babies, to safety.
In Joe Gqabi district, 34 houses were damaged and four were destroyed in Takalani, Popcorn Valley, Sekoting, Mcwangele, Ntokozweni, Bhekela and Moroka.
In Alfred Nzo, 44 homes have been affected leaving their occupants homeless. The houses are in Ntabankulu, Matatiele and Umzimvubu.
In Amathole district, 10 families were left homeless in Raymond Mhlaba and Amahlathi after flood damage to their homes.
In Sarah Baartman district, 52 houses were damaged in the Dr Beyers Naude municipality.
However, most of the requested R4.5bn is to repair roads and bridges.
This is according to a preliminary report compiled by the provincial government.
The rains led to three deaths and the displacement of 1,000 from their homes, and affected six districts across the province.
The report comes a day after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a national state of disaster after the rains in several provinces.
“The National Disaster Management Centre has received reports ranging from flooded homes, vehicles swept away by floodwaters and overflowing dams and sewerage facilities, to the loss of basic infrastructure and damage to roads, bridges and a Limpopo hospital,” he said.
“In agriculture, farmers have suffered crop and livestock losses, and anticipate further losses as the SA Weather Service predicts that current heavy rains will persist.
“These conditions have been brought on by the La Niña global weather phenomenon which occurs in the Pacific Ocean but has impacts on a country like SA with above-normal rainfall.”
The report was compiled by the provincial disaster management centre under the co-operative governance & traditional affairs department.
The report said: “Based on visual and photographic assessments by the department, preliminary estimates are that the cost of repairs of damaged infrastructure will amount to R4.5bn ...
“Detailed assessments will be conducted as soon as conditions permit and the report will be updated accordingly.”
The report said the nature and extent of damage included gravel wash-aways; road collapses with sinkhole formations; spring bursts; road wash-aways; bridge approach wash-aways resulting in structure isolation; inaccessibility, vehicles being stuck, communities being cut off; and road closures, some without alternative access routes.
From the report, Chris Hani had the highest number of displaced people at 1,000.
In a statement on Tuesday, Cogta MEC Zolile Williams said disaster assessment teams were working flat-out to ascertain the extent of the damage.
“The affected districts are Chris Hani, Joe Gqabi, Alfred Nzo, OR Tambo, Amathole and Sarah Baartman and the provincial report will be expedited for sharing with the National Disaster Management Centre.”
Williams said the assessment teams’ work was being hampered by damaged infrastructure including roads and bridges.
“We have difficulty in accessing some of the affected communities due to roads that have become dongas and bridges washed away.
“We thank the Gift of the Givers, Red Cross and other NGOs for the relief support they continue to render to alleviate the plight of our people.”
Premier Oscar Mabuyane, through his spokesperson Khusela Rantjie, welcomed the declaration of a national state of disaster, saying it would greatly assist the province to remain agile in its intervention and support to affected communities.
“For a couple of years now the province has found itself heavily affected by torrential rains wreaking havoc in people’s lives — with the latest incident occurring last week killing [several] people and displacing hundreds.
“The premier has offered his condolences to the bereaved families.
“In the past year costs to socioeconomic infrastructure ran close to R2bn.”
Chris Hani District Municipality mayor Wongama Gela also welcomed the declaration of a state of disaster.
But he said at this stage it was difficult to assess the extent of damage in the district.
“Almost on a daily basis we get notified of new discoveries in terms of the damage and our teams, particularly the team from the disaster management centre, will be dispatched to those areas to assess and then get back to us with a report.”
Gela said damage in the mainly rural municipalities like Intsika Yethu, Emalahleni, Sakhisizwe and Ngcobo, was mostly to roads and bridges.
“They have totally collapsed. So in the main it will be roads and bridges [that need urgent attention], but if you look at Komani, which is mostly urban, it will be people’s homes that have been affected.
“The department of human settlements committed last week to providing about 200 temporary shelters but they are not enough.”
Gela said the displacement of people meant further problems like finding new uniforms for school-going children, and acquiring new documentation like ID cards.
Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said there had been three deaths due to drowning in the Chris Hani district on Friday and Saturday.
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