Angela van Nes
About 120 people are still trapped and isolated by heavy snowfalls in the central Karoo. Photo: Angela van Nes
Emergency supplies to more than 120 people trapped by snow in Beaufort West have been flown out by the air force after a weekend of extreme weather.
Three people froze to death and a woman is missing, presumed drowned, after the weather mayhem across the province.
Emergency services are determined to prevent more deaths, human or animal.
No extreme weather is expected for the next few days, but temperatures will remain low.
Heavy snowfalls in the north of the province and high rainfall in the Southern Cape at the weekend effectively cut the province off from the rest of the country, leaving thousands of people and freight trucks stranded by snow and rain.
An air force helicopter left the Ysterplaat air force base loaded with emergency food, blankets and wood on Monday. Also on board was a paramedic.
The City of Cape Town sent a team of people, supplies and vehicles to Beaufort West to further assist with emergency rescue operations.
Colin Deiner, provincial chief director for disaster management and fire brigade services, said on Monday that if municipalities had not done winter preparedness operations, the snow and floods would have created more havoc, which would have led to a provincial disaster being declared.
Deiner said the Touws and Groot Brak rivers in the Eden district had been opened in anticipation of high rainfall. As a result, the water “had somewhere to go”.
At the weekend, a 55-year-old man died in Uniondale, an 86-year-old man in Avontuur and a woman in Middleplass, De Rust. They all froze to death. The body of a 28-year-old woman, presumed drowned, has still not been recovered.
By late afternoon on Monday, traffic on the N1 to and from Beaufort West was back to normal, said provincial traffic chief Kenny Africa.
Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell said there were about 120 people on seven farms who were cut off.
He said it had been agreed, after an assessment meeting on Monday morning, that relief was a matter of urgency and that much-needed supplies should be sent to Beaufort West.
“The SANDF has been activated to assist in providing emergency relief, medical evacuation and transporting of emergency supplies to the Beaufort West Disaster Management Centre,” Bredell said. The well-being of the animals will be addressed once the affected people have been issued with emergency supplies. There is feed available on certain farms in the area that will be distributed.”
lynnette.johns@inl.co.za
Cape Argus
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Article source: http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/three-freeze-to-death-1.1342803