Africa-Press – South-Africa. Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis hopes the major incident declaration he signed on Tuesday will allow the City to unlock funds for humanitarian relief for those severely affected by the strong winds and heavy rain that made landfall over the long weekend.
He told News24: “This [the declaration] allows us to speed up our processes to hire more equipment as we need it, including bulldozers and diggers. It also allows us to unlock additional overtime budgets for our staff.”
Hill-Lewis added that the declaration would allow the City to unlock disaster relief funds from the national government, although said release could take a while.
“We would like funds for humanitarian relief and temporary accommodation for those whose homes are still flooded,” he said.
The severe weather resulted in significant infrastructure damage and service disruptions due to flooding, mudslides, rockfalls and fallen trees.
DEVELOPING | Western Cape government says agriculture flood damage amounts to an estimated R1.4bn
At least eight deaths were linked to the adverse weather.
The Western Cape government first approached the National Disaster Management Centre to declare a provincial state of disaster after a cold front brought heavy rains in May and June.
It is still awaiting feedback on the classification. Should a classification be awarded, the province can apply for funding from the National Treasury.
The province estimates it suffered damages worth more than R700 million due to the winter storms of May and June, which predominately affected the Overberg, Cape Winelands and West Coast district municipalities.
Should the disaster declaration be awarded, the province will likely apply for around R22 million on behalf of the three municipalities.
In addition, the provincial government will need around R500 million for repairs in the agricultural sector and about R180 million for the restoration of other damaged infrastructure.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
