The community of Riverlands near Malmesbury in the Swartland Municipality is in turmoil again due to another flash flood. Last week, three retention dams on a farm burst their banks, causing serious damage to homes, destroying water infrastructure, and disrupting the electricity supply.
On Saturday afternoon, a spillway designed to release water pressure from a fourth dam quickly turned into a flash flood. Fear struck the Riverlands community as they heard something resembling thunder. A surge of water rushed through the area once again, less than two weeks after three dams had caused flooding.
“We are cleaning up a lot of mud and stuff. Our chest of drawers is broken, our freezer isn’t working at the moment, there is no water, no toilet, and sanitation is not good now for us because, why, we can’t live like this,” a resident says.
The community and the Swartland municipality were busy with mop-up operations when the latest incident occurred.
“The Department of Water and Sanitation was working at the fourth dam and what happened was that the spillway that they were busy working on had completely flooded. The intention was to lower the levels gradually but unfortunately, it created a fast flow that quickly became a flash flood,” says Mart-Marie Haasbroek, Swartland Municipality Spokesperson.
Emergency evacuations were conducted, but the water has subsided, allowing people to return home. Over a hundred people are, however, still provided with shelter in two community facilities.
“Our water pipes were physically washed out of the ground and now we have to rebuild that network and that will take several weeks. We currently have water trucks on the ground, stationed throughout the area, because the water outage does not only affect the residents of Riverlands but it also affects the neighboring area of Chatsworth,” Haasbroek adds.
The municipality and several aid organizations, including Gift of the Givers, have been on site since the initial flood.
“We served approximately 1,000 per day by providing them with hot meals and water. Initially, we also distributed sleeping mats and blankets. This morning, we were in the area distributing food hampers when a young girl came running, saying the water was coming. We then jumped into our vehicle and drove for about a kilometer into the community and we saw the water coming down the street running like a river,” says Emily Thomas from Gift of the Givers.
The Department of Water and Sanitation has assured that a fourth dam on the farm no longer poses a threat of bursting its banks. Damage assessments are currently being conducted. There have been no reported fatalities or injuries, but several people have received shock treatment.
