A rapid assessment conducted between 26 June and 30 June has revealed damages caused by the recent severe floods in the Western Cape will cost millions of rands.
Also read: Flooding highlights concerns over stress on infrastructure
The Western Cape Department of Agriculture (WCDoA) released an updated assessment of the estimated financial cost of the damage at sites on the West Coast, Cape Winelands and the Overberg, including extensive damage to riverbanks, irrigation equipment, private roads and sediment over vineyards and fruit orchards.
The estimated costs of the damages are:
- Irrigation: R7.7 million;
- Fencing: R1.4 million;
- The rehabilitation of rivers, riparian zones, vineyards and orchards due to large volumes of sediment removed upstream and deposited downstream in rivers, riverbanks, vineyards and orchards: R748 million;
- Crop losses: R278 million;
- Loss of income (seasonal workers): R18.7 million, and
- The cost of clearing a weir to provide drinking water to 400 people: R120 000
‘The above estimates do not consider potential losses experienced along the agriculture value chain nor provide any insight into the impact on future exports.’
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According to the Western Cape Government, officials will band together with the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and the National Disaster Management Centre to declare flood-damaged areas as a disaster in order to obtain the relevant funding and support needed to address these challenges.
The WCDoA will provide affected producers with technical information, and the department will extend its current river protection works programme to flood-affected river systems to help mitigate the impact of future flooding.
In addition, the WCDoA will reprioritize existing budget allocations and approach its national sector department as well as the National Disaster Management Centre to cover the cost of river protection works.
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Also read:
Western Cape flooding claims two lives and displaces thousands