83 rescued at flooded bridge
Flooding of the Brandwag River over the Geelbekvlei Road near Brandwag left 83 people stranded on Saturday, 21 October.
They had to be ferried across a flooded bridge by boat, groups at a time.
National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) Mossel Bay noted in a statement that it received a request for assistance from Mossel Bay Fire and Rescue Services, reporting that employees of a local business were stranded, cut off by the swollen Brandwag River.
JC Roos, NSRI Mossel Bay station commander, said that the NSRI duty crew was activated on Saturday at 15:12. At the bridge, a secondary exit had been investigated, by the large group of employees of the local business, attempting to go home from a day at work but that roadway had also been cut off by flooding.
Roos commended the swift response and cooperation between the various organisations involved in the rescue.
He said the following were involved: an NSRI rescue vehicle, towing the NSRI JetRib, NSRI volunteers' personal vehicles, a
NSRI volunteer's own pencil duck, the Western Cape Government Health EMS, Eden Lifesaving, using a pencil duck rescue craft, Mossel Bay Fire and Rescue Services, Eden DRM (Disaster
Risk Management), SA Police
Services, SAPS Sea Borderline Control and SAPS Water Policing and Dive Services, using their police boat.
Roos said 83 people, given life jackets, were ferried across the river in relays, aboard the four rescue crafts, after which they were able to take their arranged transport to their homes. "There were no injuries and the operation was completed at 19:30," said Roos.