According to Executive Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, storms in South Africa’s Western Cape province have caused extensive flood damage, affecting over 35,000 households in Cape Town. He noted the varying impact from minor ankle-deep water to severe flooding reaching knee-deep or deeper.
“We’ve got more than 35,000 families in the city who have suffered some kind of flood damage,” Hill-Lewis said in an interview on SAfm, a national radio station.
The storms have also resulted in roofs being blown off homes, trees falling, and widespread power outages across the city. While not catastrophic, Mayor Hill-Lewis acknowledged that repairs will be time-consuming.
In addition to residential damage, the storms disrupted shipping at regional ports. As a precaution, provincial authorities closed numerous schools in Cape Town and surrounding areas for the safety of students and staff. According to provincial Minister of Education David Maynier, 137 schools sustained damage by Wednesday, with 49 needing urgent repairs.
Although some maritime operations have resumed, others remain intermittent with a plan to fully restart by Friday afternoon, as reported by state-owned ports operator Transnet SOC Ltd.
Add a Comment