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18 June 2023 Impact Based Warning: Orange Level 5 – Damaging Waves

Impact Based Warning: Orange Level 5 – Damaging Waves

The Cape Town Weather Office has issued a Level 5 Impact Based Warning for Damaging Waves valid from today to 20 June 2023.

Areas in the Garden Route district affected by damaging waves include Bitou, George, Hessequa, Knysna and Mossel Bay.

Legal notice:
“This warning from SA Weather Service must be communicated as received and may not be altered under any circumstance.
It must be forwarded or communicated in its entirety and no portion hereof may be replicated or copied and distributed.”

Report weather related incidents to the Garden Route Disaster Management Centre at: 044 805 5071.

ENDS

18 June 2023 Impact Based Warning: Orange level 5 – Damaging Winds

Impact Based Warning: Orange Level 5 – Damaging Winds

The Cape Town Weather Office has issued a Level 5 Impact Based Warning for Damaging Winds valid for 19 June 2023.

Areas in the Garden Route district affected by damaging winds include Bitou, George, Hessequa, Knysna and Mossel Bay.

Legal notice:
“This warning from SA Weather Service must be communicated as received and may not be altered under any circumstance.
It must be forwarded or communicated in its entirety and no portion hereof may be replicated or copied and distributed.”

Report weather related incidents to the Garden Route Disaster Management Centre at: 044 805 5071.

ENDS

18 June 2023 Impact Based Warning: Yellow level 2 – Damaging Winds

Impact Based Warning: Yellow Level 2 – Damaging Winds

The Cape Town Weather Office has issued a Level 2 Impact Based Warning for Damaging Winds valid for 19 June 2023.

Areas in the Garden Route district affected by damaging winds include Kannaland, and Oudtshoorn.

Legal notice:
“This warning from SA Weather Service must be communicated as received and may not be altered under any circumstance.
It must be forwarded or communicated in its entirety and no portion hereof may be replicated or copied and distributed.”

Report weather related incidents to the Garden Route Disaster Management Centre at: 044 805 5071.

ENDS

16 June 2023 Impact Based Warning: Yellow Level 2 – Damaging Waves

Impact Based Warning: Yellow Level 2 – Damaging Waves

The Cape Town Weather Office has issued a Level 2 Impact Based Warning for Damaging Waves valid from Saturday, 17 June to Tuesday, 20 June 2023.

Areas in the Garden Route district affected by damaging waves include Bitou, George, Hessequa, Knysna and Mossel Bay.

Legal notice:
“This warning from SA Weather Service must be communicated as received and may not be altered under any circumstance.
It must be forwarded or communicated in its entirety and no portion hereof may be replicated or copied and distributed.”

Report weather-related incidents to the Garden Route Disaster Management Centre at 044 805 5071.

ENDS

15 June 2023 Media Release: First-of-its-kind Municipal Health Dashboard created by Garden Route DM

Media Release: First-of-its-kind Municipal Health Dashboard created by Garden Route DM

For Immediate Release
15 June 2023

Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) has launched a first-of-its-kind Municipal Health dashboard this year to provide easy access to data that Environmental Health Practitioners (EHP) gather and analyse on a daily basis. “This innovative tool utilises maps to present a heatmap of areas where persistent health issues, amongst others, are flagged, enabling GRDM to identify areas requiring additional interventions to meet health standards,” said Jessica Erasmus, a GRDM Environmental Health Practitioner.  Erasmus was involved in the business analysis and communication side of the system development to help the system builders bridge the gap between municipal health function and technology.

According to Clive Africa, GRDM Executive Manager for Community Services, “the dashboard aligns with Section 1 of the National Health Act, 2003 (Act 61 of 2003), which mandates Municipal Health Services to monitor various aspects such as water quality and safety, food control, waste management, premises health surveillance, disease prevention (excluding immunisations), vector control, pollution control, disposal of the dead, and chemical safety”.

“To monitor these focus areas, daily inspections are conducted and linked to the system, capturing details of businesses, owners, addresses, and GPS coordinates, to name a few,” said Jessica.

“The data from these inspections are then repurposed for monthly monitoring reports, providing the number of inspections per EHP, per region, and per premises.”

GRDM has leveraged its existing Geospatial Information System (GIS) Unit and an external GIS company, to help build a system that maps data and provides real-time satellite views.

“Integrating addresses of premises and GPS coordinates into the system allows GRDM to plot business and premises locations, sampling points, illegal dump sites, and communicable disease trend data,” said Africa.

“This integration also enables GRDM to access historical data on businesses, including compliance and non-compliance issues, with a single click, facilitating a better understanding of the municipality’s data.”

Benefits of the Municipal Health Dashboard:

  • Real-time data access allows GRDM to gain in-depth insights into the causes of specific communicable disease outbreaks in certain areas.
  • It enables GRDM to investigate whether shared water sources or common shopping areas contribute to disease outbreaks, which helps in community education and prevention efforts.
  • The dashboard information facilitates collaboration with relevant authorities responsible for addressing water source issues or other underlying problems, thereby assisting in resolving health-related concerns.
  • Overall, the dashboard offers a holistic and real-time view of GRDM’s daily activities, serving as an early warning system to prevent environmental health-related disasters.
  • The dashboard allows for the management of municipal health services. This is done by looking at the birds’ eye view of the whole district to make important managerial decisions and to enhance the functioning of the Environmental Health Practitioners.

EHP Francois Koelman, recognised as one of the best EHPs in South Africa in 2018, also played a similar role as Erasmus when he worked closely with Business Engineering in 2016/17 to develop a municipal app for EHPs – another first-of-its-kind app for municipalities. The app is also used today to link information to the Municipal Dashboard.

Feature image: Green is compliant and red is non-compliant/or requires intervention (illegal dumping) and indicates the status of the region.

ENDS

15 June 2023 Impact Based Warning: Yellow level 2 – Damaging Winds

Impact Based Warning: Yellow level 2 – Damaging Winds

The Cape Town Weather Office has issued a Level 2 Impact Based Warning for Damaging Winds valid from Thursday, 15 June to Saturday, 17 June 2023.

Areas in the Garden Route district affected by damaging winds include Bitou, George, Hessequa, Knysna and Mossel Bay.

Legal notice:
“This warning from SA Weather Service must be communicated as received and may not be altered under any circumstance.
It must be forwarded or communicated in its entirety and no portion hereof may be replicated or copied and distributed.”

Report weather-related incidents to the Garden Route Disaster Management Centre at 044 805 5071.

ENDS

14 June 2023 Media Release: GRDM Regional Waste Management Facility construction to start before July 2023

Media Release GRDM Regional Waste Management Facility construction to start before July 2023

For Immediate Release
14 June 2023

Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) yesterday, 13 June 2023, held its official site handover meeting with Tefla Group (Pty) Ltd for the regional waste management facility. Before the commencement of this site establishment and construction of the facility, it was required to obtain the Construction Work Permit from the Department of Employment and Labour.

The Department of Employment and Labour fast-tracked the application process, which typically takes 30 days, after they received the application on 26 May 2023 and provided the approval on 8 June 2023.

Currently, Bitou-, Knysna-, George-, and Mossel Bay municipalities use the PetroSA landfill in Mossel Bay. PetroSA previously granted an extension of the current waste disposal contracts with the different municipalities for an additional twelve (12) months, which will end on 29 February 2024, when the site is expected to reach full capacity. By this time, an operational waste cell must be available at the newly constructed Regional Waste Management Facility for domestic waste disposal.

During the engagement, GRDM Municipal Manager, Monde Stratu, said: “Today is a huge milestone achieved for GRDM, and we look forward to seeing Tefla Group carry this forward.  Finally handing over the site, is something I never thought would happen in my time at GRDM. However, when I leave, I will be able to say that there is a large facility on the N2 that services four local municipalities.” Stratu thanked the Community Services Department and other role players who steered the project to this point, and he wished the contractors and project managers’ good luck in bringing the project to completion on time.

The Regional Waste Management Facility Management Project is a crucial initiative aimed at improving waste management practices within the region. Site establishment will now proceed for the next three weeks, which will be followed by the commencement of construction.

The estimated project timeline, taking into account local weather patterns, as well as the need to import most materials from Germany, is as follows:

Description Due Date
Contractor on Site June 2023
Completion of Phase 1 February 2024
Estimated completion of project March 2025
Operations & Maintenance Tender Award August 2023

-End-

13 June 2023 Media Release: Very cold wet and windy weather to persist over the Cape provinces in the week ahead.

Media Release: Very cold wet and windy weather to persist over the Cape provinces in the week ahead.

For immediate release
13 June 2023

Very cold wet and windy weather to persist over the Cape provinces in the week ahead.

A well-developed, fast-moving cold front arrives over the Western Cape tomorrow, introducing very cold, rainy weather to all three of the Cape provinces. In addition, strong, gusty westerly winds over the interior of Western and Western Cape are expected to accompany the passage of the cold front. Given the dramatic drop in temperature, combined with persistent wet and windy conditions in the days ahead, small stock farmers are strongly encouraged to take mitigative action at an early stage to prevent stock losses due to exposure.

Moreover, the arrival of the cold frontal system tomorrow will be the first in a succession of such systems, expected to pass through the Cape provinces in the week ahead, on an almost daily basis.

Cold, windy conditions with occasional showers will therefore be a persistent feature of the weather over the southern half of the country, continuing until well after the long weekend.

The latest output from Numeric Weather Prediction (NWP) models, in particular the Unified Model (UM) (refer Figure 1 below) suggest that heavy rainfall may occur over parts of Western Cape tomorrow Wednesday 14 June, persisting on Thursday 15 June.

Typically, the presence of higher topography and especially mountainous areas tends to markedly enhance local rainfall through orographic uplift. The western, or windward, side of hills and mountains of the Western and Northern Cape can therefore expect to receive upwards of 100 mm of rainfall on Wednesday, with further significant rainfall of the order of 50 mm or more, persisting on Thursday. This NWP guidance has prompted SAWS to issue a Level 6 Orange warning for disruptive rainfall, expected to affect particularly the Cape Town CBD and Metropole as well as the Winelands area (see additional details below).

Strong, gusty winds (possibly gusting beyond gale-force) are anticipated over much of the interior of Western Cape and Eastern Cape tomorrow and Thursday. High-sided vehicles travelling along major roads and highways could be at risk of being severely buffeted by crosswinds. Drivers of such vehicles are encouraged to reduce speed and to exercise due caution in this regard.

Numerically modelled 24-hour rainfall in mm, based on the Unified Model (UM), valid for Wednesday, 14 June and Thursday, 15 June 2023 (at top left and top right respectively). Source: Meteologix.com

Strong to gale force winds are expected to occur along the Western Cape coast between Saldanha Bay and Plettenberg Bay on Wednesday and Thursday, combined with very rough sea conditions of 4,5 to 5,0m, which will lead to difficulty in navigation at sea and may cause problems for small marine vessels.

The following Impact-Based weather warnings have been issued by the South African Weather Service (SAWS):

A Yellow Level 2 Warning for disruptive rain leading to localised flooding of roads and settlements can be expected over the southern West coast, south-eastern Cape Winelands and western Overberg districts on Wednesday and Thursday (14-15/06/2023). Impacts may include difficult driving conditions and minor motor vehicle accidents due to slippery roads.

An Orange Level 6 Warning for disruptive rain leading to major disruption of traffic flow can be expected over the City of Cape Town and most parts of Cape Winelands on Wednesday and Thursday (14-15/06/2023). Impacts may include flooding of roads and settlements and damage to property and infrastructure.

Furthermore, members of the public are encouraged to regularly follow weather forecasts on television, radio as well as social media platforms. Updated information in this regard will regularly be available at www.weathersa.co.za as well as via the SA Weather Service Twitter account @SAWeatherService.

Compiled by Kevin Rae and Stella Nake (CT and PE forecaster input)
Edited by Wayne Venter

Approved by Tshepho Ngobeni, Senior Manager DRR
For technical and weather enquiries:
National Forecasting Centre: Tel: 012 367 6041

Report weather related incidents to the Garden Route District Disaster Management Centre at 044 805 5071.

ENDS