Cape Town - As cold, wet conditions are expected to continue in the city on Tuesday, officials have confirmed six deaths since the weekend, as the weather continues to take its toll on the Western Cape.
The provincial government’s Disaster Risk Reduction team confirmed that one person, a homeless woman who has not yet been identified, died from hypothermia in Robertson.
This follows the death of Elizabeth Barry, a Wynberg resident in her early seventies, who was found on a pavement in Wynberg in cold conditions on Sunday morning.
Provincial traffic chief Kenny Africa also confirmed three deadly road accidents since Friday. Three people died in accidents related to wet road conditions in De Doorns, Prince Alfred Hamlet and Cape Town.
“Despite heavy downpours, hail and gale-force winds we still recorded motorists at speeds of up to 175km/h in a 100km zone. This is not only reckless and irresponsible, it is criminal, and control of a vehicle at this speed in the current wet road conditions can be lost in an instant resulting in the loss of innocent lives.”
In the Winelands Municipality, a road worker died when his team were trapped in a rockfall on the Franschhoek Pass.
“A team of three went up the pass to clear the road of rocks on Sunday evening. Upon arriving on the scene there was a second, more devastating rock slide,” said Tasso Steyn, Stellenbosch’s deputy fire chief.
“One member of the crew sustained serious injuries to his head, back and leg. He died before rescue workers could reach him,” Steyn said.
He said rescue workers responded to the team in distress, in spite of the danger of further rockfalls.
Africa said the pass remained closed while the risks of further rockfalls were assessed.
The road between Ceres and Touws River was also closed due to heavy snowfall.
Rowena Kellies, spokeswoman for the municipality, identified the dead man as 38-year-old Msindisi Duka.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. Mr Duka will be greatly missed,” she said.
The two surviving members of the team were taken to the MediClinic in Paarl.
Tshipi Mtangayi, 59, broke both his hips, his shoulder and sustained head injuries. He remains in hospital in a stable condition.
Paul Nyanyatsi, 49, sustained an ankle injury and was discharged.
Wilfred Solomons-Johannes, spokesman for the city’s disaster management, said that around 9 000 households (the majority of which are shacks in informal settlements) had been waterlogged following heavy rain over the weekend and on Monday.
Nearly 30 000 people were in need of aid. Solomons-Johannes said that most had been provided with emergency clothes, blankets and food. The 2 266 people displaced by storms and flooding in Bishop Lavis, Hout Bay, and parts of Gugulethu, Strand and Khayelitsha were being accommodated at community halls until alternative arrangements could be made, he said.
“Since June 1, the city’s disaster risk management centre, in collaboration with HDI, Mustadafin and the Red Cross, has provided 26 490 affected citizens with hot meals, and handed out a total of 28 518 blankets in the areas that have been worst affected by the weekend’s storms,” said Solomons-Johannes.
In Dunoon, the RDP house of Elizabeth Mntungwa has been waterlogged since the weekend.
Mntungwa, who is a “safety mother” to nine children currently in the care of social workers, said the wet conditions had seen her little ones coming down with colds and flu.
* For all emergency situations, call 107 from a landline or 021 480 7700 from a cellphone.
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