Soggy cemeteries peril

August has been awful in Cape Town thanks to cold fronts bringing in heavy rain. The downpours have affected not only the living but the dead.

The city's parks department has been keeping close tabs on the rise of water tables at cemeteries which, in some areas, have become waterlogged, resulting in families being asked to bury their dead elsewhere.

According to Alderman Belinda Walker, the mayoral committee member for community services, families that pay for private graves might have to sign an "acceptance of limited depth" form.

People who pay for a private grave may use it to accommodate two coffins.

"Because of the weather [families] might have to accept that they probably cannot bury a second coffin on top of the first," said Walker.

She said the department was liaising with undertakers to ensure that burials did not take place in waterlogged areas because this might result in "traumatic and disturbing" experiences for families.

Of the 38 cemeteries in the city, 17 are either full or dormant .

A 2012 report by the SA Local Government Association found that cities around the country are in "dire need" of land for cemeteries.

The Cape weather has already claimed a life. Vanessa Jackson, spokesman for ER24, said her team yesterday found two men huddled under wet cardboard boxes in Kuilsriver. They were "unresponsive, cold and sopping wet".

"One man was already dead; nothing more could be done for him," said Jackson.

The second man was resuscitated and rushed to Tygerberg Hospital.

Charlotte Powell, Cape Town's head of the public awareness and preparedness at the disaster risk management centre, said the city and NGOs were on high alert to rescue people living in informal settlements. She warned that wet, cold weather and gales would continue to batter Cape Town today but there would be some relief towards the weekend.