The heavens truly opened with an uncharacteristic summer storm in the Helderberg on Monday afternoon (12 December), when more than 80 mm of rains was recorded in some areas, flooding streets, causing rockfalls and mudslides along Clarence Drive and even resulting in some damage to homes and properties.
Stormwater outlets were overwhelmed throughout Strand and Gordon’s Bay, while in Rusthof children took advantage of roads turned into dams to take a swim.
In Twin Palms, Strand a resident was spotted with a kayak navigating the streets, while portions of Victoria Road in Somerset West and Beach Road, Gordon’s Bay were closed to traffic.
Clarence Drive, along the R44, was closed around 15:00 that afternoon following rock falls, which later escalated into mudslides. This also caused widespread traffic backlogs as motorists were redirected onto the N2.
Traffic officials have been directing motorists travelling to and from the Overstrand through the alternative access route of the N2 over Sir Lowry’s Pass and via Grabouw.
Motorists still have access to Kleinmond and Betty’s Bay (up to Rooi Els from the R43’s side) on the R44.
By Tuesday morning the full extent of damage to the R44 between Strand and Pringle Bay was yet to be established.
Flooding of overflowing sewerage also occurred at homes and public buildings, including the Strand Magistrates’ Court.
According to Ward 83 Councillor Carl Punt areas affected the most were Gants Industrial, parts of Somerset Mall, Paardevlei next to Geelsloot and also streets in Strand North.
“With this flooding a lot of litter washed out onto Strand Beach, but Solid Waste Department is already busy cleaning the beach areas this morning,” Punt said on Tuesday.
Ward 85 councillor and Subcouncil 8 chairperson Chantal Cerfontein said that the City’s Disaster Risk Management Centre (DRMC) has not been alerted to any major impacts related to the adverse weather affecting large parts of the province.
“Our staff responded to Somerset West and Strand early yesterday, following reports of minor localised flooding,” she said. “There was no damage to property or injuries reported. It is likely that the storm water volume in these areas exceeded the designed capacity.”
Cerfontein added DRMC has requested a joint assessment by Catchment, Stormwater and River Management as well as Road Infrastructure Management.
She said that the cleaning of drains and gullies in Ward 85, and that the strong heavy rains had resulted in minimal overflows of stormwater drains and minor damage.
“However, streets identified that still need attention include Hammond street and 8th to 11th Street, and a sewerage overflow in front of Greenways estate has already been attended to. Even in our informal settlements we had hardly-to-no damage. Just overflows, but these are caused by building structures in water catchment areas, which had burst and caused the heavy flow that side. Luckily no homes was destroyed.”
Ward 100 (Gordon’s Bay) was hit the worst due to the constant pipe bursts, repairs being done and illegal connections underground, she said.
“In Ward 84 the informal settlement Riemvasmaak was also severely affected, but that was due to a resident whom has built a dam wall and this too has bursts which caused the water mixed with mud flowing into residents shacks,” Cerfontein said. “Our DRMC teams, Water & Sanitation, Roads & Stormwater departments, where all on standby in the Helderberg and did a great job by mitigating severe situations and would like to Thank all the residents for playing their part to ensure drains are kept clean and clear.”
The DRMC will continue monitoring the situation as the weather forecast is in place until this evening.
The public is reminded to report any emergencies to 107 from a landline or 021 480 7700 from a cellphone.
