Flood damaged road
As heavy rains continue to pummel the province of Limpopo, MEC Nkakareng Rakgoale’s teams at the Department of Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure, and Roads Agency Limpopo are busy assessing flood damages on roads infrastructure.
Thus far, the teams have found that at least eleven bridges have been washed away and several roads severely damaged in the province. The hardest hit district is Mopani with six bridges, Waterberg with three and Vhembe with two.
The damaged roads infrastructure is expected to increase as the province continues to experience torrential rains for the third week in a row. Preliminary estimates of infrastructure damages already run into millions of rands.
MEC Rakgoale has welcomed the declaration of the National State of Disaster on Floods by national government due to Inclement Weather, as this will enable quick and intensive intervention and response in dealing with the flooding situation.
“In the department we have teams that are working tirelessly at district levels, with their colleagues from sister departments, RAL, and affected local municipalities, in conducting assessments after which interventions will be made on gravel and tar roads. We urge road users to drive with extra caution and not attempt to cross overflowing bridges,” Rakgoale said.
The department will share updates as assessments continue to be made.
Meanwhile torrential rains are still expected, but from February 24 to 03 March may clear over much of the country, except for some rain over the South Eastern parts of the country.
According to the South African Weather Service, there is a looming threat of Tropical Cyclone Freddy, emanating from the far east Indian Ocean.
Tropical Cyclone Freddy intensified overnight to a very intense tropical category, equivalent to Category 5 hurricane. It is expected to make the first landfall in Madagascar on Tuesday night, it will then proceed to re-enter the ocean in Mozambique Channel 24hours later.
The second landfall of Tropical Cyclone Freddy is expected in the early hours of Friday, 24 February, over central Mozambique, near city of Beira. Thereafter, Freddy is expected to continue on a North-Westerly trajectory towards Zimbabwe.
In its currently projected path, Freddy is highly unlikely to have any major impact on South Africa.
The SAWS will continue to closely monitor the system and provide regular updates.