The Hermanus Business Chamber hosted a special event recently to honour Overstrand Municipality’s management team and workers for the way they handled the aftermath of the Stage 9 storm in the Overstrand area at the end of September.
At the special event at the Marine Hotel a Certificate of Excellence was handed to the Mayor, Dr Annelie Rabie. In addition to this, an invitation to identify about 50 workers who assisted on the front line to alleviate the water crisis was handed to Municipal Manager Dean O’Neill. These workers will be treated to a free lunch at Ocean Basket, sponsored by Chamber members.
The theme of the Mayor’s speech was “Storm aftermath – disaster management and lessons learnt.” It was followed by a short question and answer session.
Rabie gave a frank and informative speech about the way the disaster was handled, and the challenges they encountered. She highlighted that this is an ongoing process, and that the cost will be enormous. She added that the budget will have to be adjusted.
Perhaps one of the saddest consequences, said the Mayor, is that the Whale Festival had to be cancelled.
“Last year over 80 000 people and 21 000 cars visited Hermanus over that weekend. One of the realities we will need to face is the vulnerability of our town regarding access to the rest of the Overstrand.”
The municipal team made plans amid the water crisis, during which a number of towns in the Greater Hermanus area was left without running water, to have temporary water supplies and put up 82 Jojo tanks across Hermanus.
A total of 1 387 kilolitres of water was provided free of charge to the residents of Hermanus and several other municipalities, such as George, Drakenstein and Mossel Bay and Peninsula Beverages immediately sent large water tankers to support Hermanus.
“The De Bos supply line was fixed temporarily within four days – a major achievement,” said Rabie. “The expenses for overtime and diesel budget will be enormous. There will have to be drastic cuts in the municipal budgets to cover the cost of what we are facing.”
In addition to the 56 m of piping of the De Bos Dam that washed away, there was also 500 m of a sewer pipeline that was destroyed in Onrus, at Bosplasie, spewing raw sewage. Repairs have started.
