Africa-Press – South-Africa. Mop-up operations are continuing in Cape Town after heavy rains and strong winds wreaked havoc in parts of the Western Cape over the long weekend.
The City’s disaster risk management spokesperson, Charlotte Powell, said on Thursday that departments had been conducting assessments and that mop-up operations were continuing.
“To date, about 16 000 people have been impacted, with around 7 100 informal structures affected. Our disaster management officials are busy concluding assessments in all affected areas,” she said.
Powell added that further assessments had also been completed in Kampies, Overcome Heights, Hangberg, and Rasta Camp in Ocean View to ascertain the damages as a result of sinkholes which formed around structures in these areas.
Thirty people are still being accommodated in the Macassar hall and will return to their homes later on Thursday.
Residents from Stormhaven Park Retirement Village, who were evacuated on Monday, moved back to their homes by the evening.
Kay’s Caravan Park residents were evacuated to the Helpende Hand organisation for two days.
“Our humanitarian agency partners, like Sassa, the Department of Social Development, NGOs, and various community-based organisations have been assisting with humanitarian relief – [such as] hot meals, food parcels, blankets, and mattresses – to more than 10 000 affected people,” Powell said.
The City’s Roads and Infrastructure Management Department has provided building materials and sandbags in many of the affected areas.
Meanwhile, approximately 7 000 Eskom customers are still without electricity supply across the Western Cape, as technicians continue to repair damage to critical infrastructure caused by the recent storm.
On Monday, Eskom reported that over 80 000 customers had been left without power.
All Khayelitsha customers were restored in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The majority of the Overberg, Overstrand, Somerset West, and Kraaifontein customers were restored late on Wednesday evening.
“Restoration work in the Boland area is progressing well following the initial challenges technicians were faced with, namely limited access due to road closures and severe structural damage. Due to the extent of the damage, multiple teams are involved in a concerted effort to reconstruct the network to restore supply,” Eskom said in a statement.
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