Western Cape farmers say floods are the ‘worst in at least 25 years’

The last person to carry Jannie Nieuwoudt across the Rondegat River was his father, way back in the 1960s.

It was the year the Rondegat washed away the road leading to Algeria forestry station in the Western Cape.

“That was the last time I’ve seen this kind of rain,” said Nieuwoudt, owner of Jamaka farm and camping site in the Cederberg. “Never seen it like this except in the 1960s when my father carried me on his back.”

Nieuwoudt, now approaching his twilight years but still going strong, has in turn been helping others reach their homes in the flood-ravaged mountainous area north of Cape Town. His digger machine became the local taxi, ferrying schoolchildren to school, in between work on the many damaged roads.

“It was still raining this morning and we are without electricity,” he said on Monday.

Enjo Guest farm owner Lauren Bradley said many locals believed the latest floods were the worst since 1997, though some said it might be the worst damage in living memory.

The Biedouw River running through her property burst its banks, and some remote villages in the northern Cederberg area were still largely cut off from the outside world. “We are very lucky that we still have our house,” said Bradley of the dramatic few days last week when the river swept away anything in its path — including most bridges and roads.

“It all sounds dramatic, but for a lot of folks that live here, they just get on with fixing up.

“Our main concern is some of the mountain villages. We employ some builders who work there, and they’ve had big damage. We’ve been trying to contact our guys there,” Bradley said.

This is a disaster we haven’t seen in years because the dam levels have increased, particularly the Clanwilliam Dam from 29% a couple of days back to 92%.

—  Provincial agriculture MEC Ivan Meyer

City of Cape Town rainfall figures released on Monday illustrate why the city’s dams are 91.8% full — a 12% increase over the past week and 27% fuller than this time last year. So far in June, Newlands has already recorded more than 513mm, approaching double the long-term average for the entire month (291mm). Wemmershoek is sitting at 446mm for June so far, compared with a long-term monthly average of 189mm.

The abundant rainfall is in stark contrast to the unprecedented drought conditions in 2017 when the city’s dams reached a maximum of 40% full at the end of the winter rainfall season.

But the huge water surplus comes at a steep price in the form of widespread damage that, in addition to roads and bridges, includes croplands, electricity infrastructure and housing. 

The flooding Olifants River claimed part of the Clanwilliam Dam construction site office, the co-ordinating centre for a delayed project aimed at raising the dam wall. Fortunately, the main part of the site office survived, according to water and sanitation department spokesperson Wisane Mavasa.

“The foreman’s office and eight containers [that were emptied] were washed away due to the unexpected high flows,” said Mavasa. “The work on the dam apron surface will now be delayed [until the dam stops spilling], but other critical path activities will continue.”

Provincial agriculture MEC Ivan Meyer on Monday described the floods as “a massive disaster” during the harvest season. “This is a disaster we haven’t seen in years because the dam levels have increased, particularly the Clanwilliam Dam from 29% a couple of days back to 92%,” he told SABC News.

“There is no doubt in my mind about the negative impact, particularly on the harvest season but also for the transportation of these products to the markets,” he added.

Premier Alan Winde and local government, environmental affairs and development planning MEC Anton Bredell are scheduled to provide an update on the co-ordinated response to the flooding on Tuesday.

“The past week saw a large-scale disaster management operation, which included numerous government departments, municipalities and civil society organisations,” said the premier’s office.

“The initial focus was to mitigate the impact of the disaster, save lives, and the provision of humanitarian aid. The next phase will involve assessing the damages and rebuilding affected infrastructure.”

Heavy downpours have displaced communities across the province, with some people having to be rescued, downed trees and power pylons and saturated many informal settlements.

Humanitarian aid is being provided to affected communities by various organisations, some of it having to be flown in by helicopter.

Available rainfall figures support the view that the province is witnessing one of the wettest winters, with more cold fronts on the way and potentially months of wet weather still ahead.