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The National Sea Rescue Institute says two men and a woman have died on a farm between Worcester and Rawsonville during heavy flooding.
The Garden Route and Little Karoo regions have sustained significant damage following recent storms that affected several towns and tourism attractions.
The region’s beaches, national parks and attractions including the Cango Caves and Cango Wildlife Ranch have been affected, forcing some temporary closures.
Flooding also damaged major roads, some of which remain closed indefinitely.
Authorities say the damage is expected to impact the tourism and hospitality sector.
Several beaches along the coastline experienced severe erosion following the storms.
Environmental Manager at Bitou Municipality, Anja Minne, says rehabilitation work is under way to restore the bid for the blue flag beach status.
“We have applied for blue flag beach status and we are hopeful that we will be able to continue to operate those blue flag beaches from the 1st of November. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done, lots of clearing and lots of rehabilitation is ongoing.”
Minne has urged residents and visitors to be cautious when visiting beaches.
“We do urge the public to be caution at the moment when accessing the beaches from Beacon Isle to Robberg because the beach profiles have changed quite severely and this could be quite dangerous if they are caught in high tide.”
Extreme weather conditions caused by climate change
In Mossel Bay, Diaz Beach has been closed in the interest of public safety, while beaches in George are also undergoing clean-up operations.
Preparations are also continuing ahead of the Knysna Oyster Festival, despite damage to some routes used during the event.
Festival Manager Nicci Rouseau-Schmidt says organisers have received assurances from SANParks.
“Its obviously intensified preparations because the route that the runners use and the cycling route has been damaged.”
“We spoke to sanparks and they have given us a commitment that they will prioritise these routes to make sure that they are fine. And we still have a little bit of time so we all think it will be fine. if they focus on these routes and make sure that everything around it is safe and they clear all the debris and clear all the fallen trees.” Rouseau-Schmidt adds.
Golf courses in the region were also affected after hundreds of trees were uprooted.
Chairperson of the George Golf Club, Daryl Austin, says rehabilitation work is underway.
Austin says, “Its absolutely devastating, we lost close to 300 trees that we accounted for. And it’s not isolated, obviously the entire George has been affected. It is truly devastating but it’s the power of nature and we just have to start mopping up operations and cleaning up.”
The Meiringspoort Pass between De Rust and Klaarstroom also sustained severe damage.
Head of Garden Route Disaster Management Gerhard Otto says most routes in the district remain accessible.
“For the garden route district most of the main route is accessible. The only roads that people will find that’s still closed is Meiringspoort and we know that’s going to be a while. Seweweekspoort as well as the swartberg pass and also the road r328 which leads to the Cango caves which is still not accessible. 95% is already accessible for local residents,” Otto says.
Health concerns and infrastructure now focus of Western Cape storms aftermath
The Cango Caves remain temporarily closed because of rockfalls on the R328 road.
Meanwhile, the Cango Wildlife Ranch says no animals were harmed despite flood damage after a nearby river burst its banks.
CEO Douglas Eriksen says fundraising and recovery efforts are underway.
“We are still open to the public. Our restaurant is here and we ask everybody to come in and chip in by eating our food and keeping our income coming in so we can still help our animals. On top of that we will be hosting recovery tours where we can show the general public the damage that occurred and how we are fixing it.”
Western Cape Minister for Agriculture, Economic Development and Tourism Ivan Meyer says the tourism sector remains operational despite the damage.
“Huge damages were caused as a result of the floods. All tourist destinations are open for business and happy to report we are back into business. Unfortunately some businesses will have to repair because of the damages caused, but in general the garden route is open for business,” Meyer says.
Authorities say damage to the tourism industry is expected to run into millions of rand, while rehabilitation and repair work continues across the region.
Western Cape Dept. of Agriculture assessing impact of damaging storms
