School children from Aliwal North Primary School, as well as 10 adults, find themselves stranded at Cango Mountain Resort due to heavy rains. Photo: The Greater Oudtshoorn Municipality
Efforts to rescue 72 children and 10 adults from a nightmare ordeal at a resort near Oudtshoorn in the Little Karoo, will take place on Wednesday morning.
The group of pupils and accompanying adults are stranded at the Cango Mountain Resort by rising flood waters caused by heavy rains.
Oudtshoorn Municipality spokesperson Aurelia Mle told Oudtshoorn Courant that the downpour caused the Le Roux River which runs through the heart of Cango Mountain Resort, to overflow, trapping the school group.
“Thankfully, there are no casualties. Both children and adults are in good health, but they are temporarily unable to leave the resort,” Mle said.
On Tuesday, Oudtshoorn Municipal Disaster Management delivered food and water to the Air Mercy Helicopter (AMS) which was dispatched to drop off the supplies to the stranded school group.
Mle expressed the hope that weather permitting, the group should be able to safely cross over by Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Meiringspoort Pass is still closed due to flooding.
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Over the Heritage weekend, large parts of the Western and Eastern Cape were hit by gale-force winds and heavy downpours which resulted in excessive flooding and road closures over the Heritage Day weekend.
The severe weather conditions were caused by a cut-off low-pressure system which prompted the South African Weather Service (Saws) to issue an orange Level 9 warning of disruptive rain and damaging winds across large parts of the Western Province over the weekend.
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On 18 September, waves of up to 9.5m lashed parts of our coastline, leaving a trail of death and destruction.
The massive waves – which claimed the lives of two people and damaged several restaurants – were caused by a tidal storm surge, exacerbated by spring tide and a cold front.
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