Authorities able to recover the body of a man who was swept away by water in Blackheath after he slipped while walking in a flooded road and fell into a drain.
Police and City rescue teams retrieved the body in a flooded canal following hours of searching.
According to reports the man was attempting to cross the flooded road at about 7am when he fell and drowned.
Western Cape police spokesperson Joseph Swartbooi said Mfuleni police registered an inquest for further investigation.
“According to reports an unknown man walked on a pavement near to the corners of Range and Stellenbosch arterial roads when he slipped and fell into a nearby canal. At the time of the incident the roads were flooded.
SAPS and fire and rescue divers were deployed to search the area where the person was last seen by a witness.
“The body of an unknown man was retrieved from the water. The victim was declared deceased on the scene by the medical personnel,” said Swartbooi.
This was the first flood-related death since the inclement weather hit the province last Friday. To date about 50 000 people have been affected across the Western Cape and more than 15 000 structures damaged by heavy rains and gale-force winds.
In Wynberg, roofs were blown off some houses and buildings on Thursday while in Monwabisi Park, the water table rose and severely flooded the area.
“Arrangements are being made to relocate approximately 500 affected residents to facilities made available by our Western Cape government and our heartfelt appreciation to Golden Arrow Bus Service (Gabs) for assisting with the transport requirements,” said City Disaster
Risk Management Centre (DRMC) spokesperson Sonica Lategan.
National Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi and her deputy Mahambehlala led a human settlements delegation to assess progress of interventions for families and by Thursday evening the 500 families were boarding Gabs buses to get to the relocation sites.
“We have made other commitments and requested that the councillor and residents give us two weeks. Together with the City and province we are working to find solutions; 500 were registered only in ward 99 and there are a total of about 10 wards affected. The relocation is for those submerged and lost their shacks.
“We are also working with councillors, we will provide material either to rebuild or sheets just for the roofs. Assessments will continue but we have enough space for relocations,” said Kubayi.
Western Cape Education MEC David Maynier announced that Overberg and Cape Winelands education districts will remain closed on Friday.
The closed schools are expected to reopen on Monday.
“A total of 217 schools across the province have now reported some form of damage to school infrastructure or disruption. Last night’s heavy rains and strong winds unfortunately contributed towards this figure, 86 cases are regarded as serious and require our attention,” he said.
In the Drakenstein region, the municipality has urged residents of Newton in Wellington, who have evacuated their homes voluntarily, to not return to their homes yet and remain with family members and friends for now.
This followed a thorough assessment with engineering experts and specialists to ascertain the dam wall failure risk of a 150 000-cubic-metre farm dam in the Bo-Dal area, above Newton, as well as an analysis of rain predictions for the next 48 hours.
Cape Times