Heavy rains and winds lashed Cape Town and its surrounds over the weekend, causing widespread damage and havoc for residents. As of this morning, disaster response teams had assisted 2 566 people in the flood-stricken areas with social relief.

City of Cape Town spokesperson, Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said in a statement last night that relief included hot meals, clothing, various food parcels, blankets, and plastic sheeting.

He continued that between Friday and Sunday evening, teams attended to 348 calls where roads, property and informal areas needed attention. At the time of releasing the statement, 321 of these calls had been dealt with, with the remainder to be dealt with today.

The River Club in Observatory, a short golf course and conferencing facility, and no stranger to flooding, was also under siege with the rising Liesbeek River causing about 60 people to be evacuated yesterday.

The river flooded the club’s courtyard, causing no significant damage to any buildings, but 15 vehicles had to be moved to higher ground.

Solomons-Johannes, said in the statement:

The city also attended to 839 instances of drains that were blocked and sewer systems that were overflowing since Friday.

The strong winds also affected various trees across Cape Town and the city parks department had to deal with 38 incidents where trees were required to be removed, trimmed and/or pruned. Residents are urged to stay clear and to leave the surrounding areas immediately for their own safety.

In the event of a life- or property-threatening emergency, the public are advised to dial 107 from a land-line or 021 480 7700 from a cellphone.

Solomons-Johannes said flooding, blocked drains, service disruptions and power failures could also be reported to the City’s 24-hour technical operations centre on 0860 10 30 89.

And motorists experiencing delays and deviations on roads could contact the City’s transport information centre on 0800 65 64 63 for more information.

He said the city’s electricity services dealt with 1 545 calls.

Capetonians, this might be a good time to start using Google’s real-time traffic overlay on Google Maps.

[Sources: IOL, M&G, SAWDOS]