City may be hard hit by cold front

COLD fronts sweeping the Cape and flood warnings having been issued for parts of Cape Town earlier this week, but mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said flood prevention measures would only be completed by the end of next month.

Smith said the City had arranged with a flood-risk assessment team to identify risk areas at the beginning of the year to create structural and non-structural flood prevention measures, which began last month.

The interventions, which include clearing drains, cleaning canals and digging trenches, are still in process.

Cape Town weather office forecaster Thabisile Ntleko said the cold front which struck the Cape Metropole and Overberg District on Monday and yesterday would be followed by more cold fronts soon.

“The period of March to May is for the implementation of agreed interventions,” Smith said.

“Between July and August, the focus is on the monitoring and evaluation of measures.

“After the initial meeting at the beginning of February, the team meets every fortnight until the end of October.

“Pro-active measures that are implemented include the evaluation of health-related risks and public education.

“Various emergency shelters have been identified to help minimise the disruption to lives and community activities in the event of a flooding incident.”

Assistant to Ward 104 councillor, Christiana Groenewoud, said blocked drains were the biggest problem in the Dunoon area.

“They’re busy clearing the drains at the moment (but) people need to be mindful that if the drains aren’t cleared, houses will be flooded,” she said.