The Drakenstein Municipality showed its poor readiness for any disaster management with the floods that hit the valley this week.
Nowhere did it give a warning about the hectic front that was approaching, while it had been forecast already on Sunday on other platforms.
Yes, it was extreme and nobody could have predicted its severity, but the municipality had no emergency plans in place to deal with this.
And as a business owner in the Huguenot area close to the river, I have through the years had to put my own precautionary measures in place to safeguard my factory from rainwater due to the municipal drainage infrastructure being inadequate.
The torrents of water that went through the Rembrandt Mall is a very good example of this inadequacy.
For years this has been a problem and flooding takes place here each year in the winter months. As businesses we have pleaded on numerous occasions with the municipality to improve this infrastructure, but to no avail.
It is evident that in general the municipalities stormwater drainage system across the valley is defunct.
