Cyclone Freddy: Emergency teams on standby to evacuate people

Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Thembi Nkadimeng says the department is preparing for any eventuality following the announcement cyclone Freddy is expected to bring heavy rains and strong winds in the northeastern part of South Africa from early Saturday morning.

Nkadimeng called on communities who may be affected by the cyclone to heed warnings and evacuate if necessary.

“Listen more to the notices of evacuations, stay safe and don’t try to cross any streams. One of the cases in Nkomazi [local municipality] was a pupil who was trying to cross a stream out of school and he’s still missing as of [Tuesday],” she said.

Fatalities

“We have had six fatalities in that area alone and 11 in the entirety of Mpumalanga [as a result of the current flooding]. One life is one too many, so we need to stay clear of streams.

“Our teams are on the ground, humanitarian relief as well, readying ourselves for Friday and Saturday in any eventuality that we may need to evacuate more people.”

She said cyclone Freddy is expected to bring added pressure on infrastructure and homes that are already flood battered and will set back ongoing relief efforts.

“It is anticipated that it will continue pouring in Mpumalanga. We are already sitting at about 1 929 houses that must be [provided] for human settlement relief,” she said.

“So, you can see that if we are going to combine a budget for human settlement relief and development for all the seven [affected] provinces, we are going to be ranging into serious billions of rands in terms of what we need to repair,” she said.

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Nkadimeng said Cogta has written to President Cyril Ramaphosa requesting the assistance of the army in the flood-hit Eastern Cape.

“We are discussing and asking for authority from the president and the minister of defence to dispense the army in the Eastern Cape because some of the roads are actually totally destroyed,” she said.

Heavy rains have battered several provinces over the past two weeks, leading Ramaphosa to declare a national state of disaster to ensure an accelerated government response to help affected communities.

“I visited Nkomazi, which is the hardest hit in Mpumalanga,” said Nkadimeng. “We are assessing about six municipalities there. We are estimating damages of almost R1 billion. The Eastern Cape has already estimated billions as well.”

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