Municipality continues to handle thousands of flood-related issues

GEORGE NEWS - George Municipality continues to work around the clock to address the thousands of issues following Monday’s flash floods, while also the municipality is on standby to handle weather impacts including gale force winds, coastal impacts, and more rain.

George Municipality Chief Fire Officer and Disaster Management Neels Barnards said all applicable sections were on standby to assist with the possible wide-ranging impacts of inclement weather.

“Our teams have been working non-stop to address emergency impacts across the area this past week and remain committed to deal with challenges to the best of our ability. A Joint Operations Command (JOC) is operating to coordinate municipal efforts in conjunction with emergency services from other agencies.” (More info about new impacts and preparations to be communicated separately).

From Monday 22 November to this morning, Friday 26 November, the following weather-related impacts had been addressed.

CIVIL ENGINEERING SERVICES

81 stormwater related callouts
9 sewerage related callouts
22 burst water pipes, including the major burst that affected supply to reservoirs
2 roads severely damaged, rendered impassable – Pienaar Street Bridge is nearing completion, Saasveld Road is jurisdiction of Garden RouteDM and remains closed.
16 pavements and street edges damaged – areas cleared to allow for safe passing, danger tape in areas that require further work.
Roads teams have been fixing potholes late into the night to make most urgent and main arterials passable. The teams are working from one side of the city to the other and are addressing the most urgent first.
Two sewer lines sustained damage and pipes were replaced. The lines were also packed with gabion blocks for erosion protection.
The dirt road to the Garden Route Dam Road, which had sustained severe erosion damage, was graded.

ELECTROTECHNICAL SERVICES

Electrotechnical services handled an estimated 3210 phone calls in relation to power outages.
The department handled and resolved 350 complaints including 34 call repairs at night. Matters varied from damage to high and low voltage lines, substations, engineering, pump stations, streetlights and vegetation clearing.

COMMUNITY SERVICES
Cleansing teams were supported by EPWP workers who:

Cleaned all beaches in the municipal area of debris, filling more than 400 black bags
Parks and public open spaces cleared of debris and washed up litter
Cleaned debris from the flooded area in Hope Street
A tree posing potential danger was cut down
Teams are walking the banks of the Kat and Molen Rivers clearing natural debris and refuse/litter that had washed down from stormwater systems.
Gutters were cleared ahead and after the storm to ensure stormwater flow away as quickly as possible.
The backlog of refuse had nearly been resolved following services to stop due to flooded streets and protecting staff from inherent dangers of flooded areas.
The Community Development section had readied community halls for possible evacuees and made food and other supplies available as needed. The team had assisted social support services and charities to assess needs of 980 households so that organisations could assist according to needs.
Gift of the Givers
150 food packs were handed out in Thembalethu and Pacaltsdorp as part of this initiative.
60 soup kitchens in hardest hit areas were assisted with additional food.
300 meals were handed out to the homeless in the CBD

HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

George Municipality will by the end of today have handed out 350 pieces of gunplas (plastic sheeting mostly used to waterproof roofs) to households in informal areas. Gift of the Givers are working with the municipality to coordinate handing out of another 100 sheets.

PROTECTION SERVICES