The provincial Disaster Management Centre has been activated to co-ordinate support needed after widespread electricity outages in the Central Karoo, Garden Route, and Overberg.
Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell on Monday said provincial Disaster Management Centre officials held a meeting stakeholders to plan and co-ordinate support needed in areas that have been without electricity since Saturday evening.
The power outage has affected large parts of the interior of the Western Cape when Eskom suffered multiple power line failures due to thunderstorms.
Eskom confirmed that seven power line towers collapsed over the weekend, and ground crews were assessing the damage.
“As we do not have an indication on how long it will take to restore the power lines, we must plan for support to critical functions such as water, sewage, hospitals, and schools in the affected areas for the next few days.
“Also, the weather predictions for this week shows heatwave conditions for the Central and Klein Karoo as well as the possibility of further isolated thunderstorms.
“This adds complexity to the electricity outage as cold chains and water supply is even more critical during these conditions,” Bredell said.
In the Central Karoo, Leeu-Gamka, Merweville, Laingsburg, Sutherland and Prince Albert have been affected.
In the Garden Route District, the town of Ladysmith is affected, and in the Overberg District, Napier, and a substantial portion of the surrounding rural farming community, including the area between Wolvengat up to Pearly Beach, are also affected.
Bredell said an assessment was being done through the various districts, which will inform the support provided to those communities.
“Support can be in the form of trucked-in water, bottled water, generators for boreholes that provide drinking water, or generators for wastewater systems. We will be communicating directly with affected communities as information becomes available.”
Bredell said provincial government will be working closely with Eskom and local municipalities to provide any support needed to speed up the recovery work.
Meanwhile, Eskom also confirmed that it was attending to electricity supply interruptions in certain parts of the Eastern Cape.
“Areas that were mostly impacted by the storm late on Sunday, 4 February 2024 are within the Alfred Nzo, Amathole, Chris Hani and OR Tambo District municipalities,” Eskom said.
Cape Times