GEORGE NEWS - George Municipality experienced a whirlwind of complaints and call-outs last week following some extreme weather conditions in the Southern Cape.
A veld fire that broke out in Hansmoeskraal on Tuesday 17 May was intensified by berg wind conditions. Attended to by Garden Route District firefighters assisted by George Fire Brigade, it could only be contained on Thursday morning,
The rain that fell from Wednesday afternoon helped cool everything down. At the Denneoord Airbase 7mm of rainfall was recorded.
Mayor Leon Van Wyk this week thanked all officials for their efforts to bring the fires under control and deal with disruptive power outages. Repair teams had to work long hours to clear vegetation and re-connect lines.
"I was touched once again by the positive comments for the work of our communications team, our firefighters and electrical teams," Van Wyk said in a municipal statement.
"We take pride in having employees (on an ongoing basis we also need to remember our water, sewer, refuse, storm water teams and others) who are dedicated in keeping our services functioning at a high standard, as well as the privateers who pitch in or are contracted to assist."
George fire and disaster services
On Wednesday 18 May, the George Fire Department received a total of 27 calls of which three were structure fires, including a three-bedroom house in Denneoord that was extensively damaged. Two informal structures were completely destroyed in Lawaaikamp.
A total of 23 calls for veld and bush fires came in for areas including Hansmoeskraal, Groenkloof, Saasveld Road, Garden Route Dam, Kraaibosch Estate, Glentana, New Dawn Park, Zone 1 Thembalethu, Pacaltsdorp and Ring Road.
The Hansmoeskraal fire, the Saasveld fire (which included Groenkloof, Saasveld Road and Garden Route Dam) and the Denneoord house fire all happened at the same time. Resources were stretched to the maximum and aerial support was called in to assist with the Saasveld fire.
Helicopter operations were however limited at one point due to high wind speeds. Savannah Helicopters were able to provide support for a good hour and 10 minutes, before being grounded late Wednesday afternoon due to poor visibility.
Wind gusts of up to 40km/h together with temperatures of up to 30ºC were recorded on Wednesday afternoon at the Denneoord Airbase. Adding to the strain on resources was a motor vehicle accident with luckily no injuries recorded.
The municipality's social service division provided mattresses, blankets and food parcels to four families who lost their structures in fires from 17 to 21 May.
Power outages and load shedding
The electrotechnical division had their hands full dealing with 11 high-voltage power outages in the Wilderness area alone, and 18 more in areas such as Hoekwil, Pinedew, Herold's Bay, Garden Route Dam, Saasveld and Kraaibosch.
They dealt with 238 low-voltage complaints during the three-day period. Some of these outages were caused by trees that fell on lines, while others were on difficult terrain, requiring extreme caution from the teams.
In addition to the weather-related power outages, Eskom applied Stage 2 load shedding for 17 to 20 May, but George was fortunate not to be affected. George Municipality is obliged to adhere to the Eskom load shedding schedule as received and cannot make amendments or give concessions to certain areas.
Director of Electrotechnical Services, Bongani Mandla, thanked his officials for focusing on addressing the key issues to restore electrical supply under such difficult circumstances.
Tree damage in Mann Street.
Damaged trees
Parks and recreation, a division of community services, attended to 15 callouts on 18 May. Seven of these were urgent - trees had fallen onto roads and were obstructing traffic in Denneoord and Blanco - and were dealt with immediately despite the inclement weather conditions.
The remaining trees were either felled or broken branches were pruned back on Thursday, with teams working throughout George collecting broken branches.
A tree uprooted in Madeliefie Street, Denneoord.
Water, sewerage and streets
Municipal civil engineering teams attended to 143 sewer network callouts, 76 water network callouts and 14 complaints regarding streets during the three-day period.
Veld fires erupted and spread in the berg wind conditions.
'We bring you the latest George, Garden Route news'
