The Western Cape Government reports that storms last month caused nearly R10 billion in damage across the province. Eleven people died in the floods and one remains missing. Additional funding will be requested from the national government.
Preliminary assessments show agriculture sustained more than R5.2 billion in losses while transport infrastructure damage stands at just under R2 billion. These figures remain unverified. The province’s budget and delivery capacity have been exceeded by the scale of destruction.
Premier Alan Winde described the storm as the worst in recent memory. His spokesperson Regan Thaw noted that Eskom has reconnected power to 95 percent of affected areas though some residents in hard-hit regions still lack electricity.
In the Garden Route and Little Karoo districts damage exceeds R500 million. Disaster head Gerhard Otto said the assessment identified harm to roads water systems and public facilities with the heaviest impact in George Municipality followed by Knysna and Bitou.
