WC disaster management on high alert after dam wall collapse
Officials said the flooding left 50 homes in Chatsworth completely destroyed and more than 220 people have been displaced.
Gift of the Givers team members do assessments following the dam disaster where the walls of two retention dams burst above Riverlands Dam in the Swartland Municipality District, Cape Town. Picture: Facebook.com/Gift of the Givers
CAPE TOWN - Western Cape Disaster Management Centre (WCDMC) officials say residents of Chatsworth, near Malmesbury, should remain on high alert as more rains are expected in the area over the weekend.
The warning comes after the area was hit by a deluge of water from two nearby retention dams.
It's reported that after the wall of one of the dams collapsed, a second dam also suffered the same fate.
Officials said the flooding left 50 homes in Chatsworth completely destroyed and more than 220 people have been displaced.
The WCDMC said emergency teams are working around the clock to reach some of the affected areas that have become inaccessible as a result of landslides.
READ: Some residents hospitalised after dam wall collapses near Malmesbury
According to the Swartland Local Municipality, the access road into Riverlands from the N7 road has been closed to traffic for safety.
"At present, we have various humanitarian relief agencies including Gift of the Givers that are on scene. They have now obviously cleared some of the masses of water and cleared the roads, and obviously some of the water flowing subsided, I would suspect due to the dams running dry," said Swartland Municipality spokesperson, Heinrich Robertson.
Meanwhile, the WCDMC said engineers have been deployed in the area to assess the extent of the damage.