The Free State disaster management team is assessing the damage that floods have caused in the province.
Two children aged four and eight died in Bronville, following floods that were caused by heavy downpours in the area.
Some roads in the province had to be closed down and traffic diverted. Meanwhile, the Education Department has suspended schooling in Qwaqwa.
Free State head of Disaster Management Markes Butler says continued downpour is hampering their efforts to do a proper assessment.
“The teams are out there in the field doing assessment but you know it is very difficult due to the fact there is ongoing rain. We cannot do a proper assessment of the extent of the damages but we are well aware of the damages that occurred in formal and informal settlements within the Free State province especially in the Qwaqwa area. So we are still assessing, working with the local structure, the district structure, the provincial structures and the national structures to coordinate the efforts in terms of mitigating the current floods situation within our province.”
Free State Tomorrow 's Weather overview: 17.1.2022 pic.twitter.com/1LEV6mME2F
— SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) January 16, 2022
More rain expected in Bloemfontein
Khedama says the municipality will also use its graders to level some of the gravel roads.
“But we also want to, as the city, take this opportunity to apologise to those people who are affected by the flooding at the Forte Bridge and will continuously put the situation under scrutiny just to make sure that at least there’s work that is happening from the disaster management point of view. Teams are there, we are trying to make sure that we are able to disperse the teams we do so immediately.”
Farmers and businesses along the Bloemhof Dam are worried about flooding:
