City sees increase of emergency calls following adverse weather

The City of Cape Town says it has seen an influx of emergency calls over the long weekend, as adverse weather rocked the metro.

In a statement, the City said its Public Emergency and Communication Centre (PECC) recorded 2 671 incidents over the long weekend, and of these 874 were recorded on Monday.  The centre also recorded 160 incidents of obstructed roadways – nearly 85% of the incidents were reported on Monday.

COURTESY: Gift of the Givers

Mayoral Committee Member for Safety & Security, JP Smith, said that while the PECC generally records a handful of calls in the category of environmental calls, this past weekend saw 162 such calls – 90% of them on Monday. He added that environmental calls includes pollution, structural flooding, landslides and severe storms.

‘’The call categories and volumes further amplify the very difficult weekend that Cape Town and much of the province experienced. Our emergency and enforcement services were really put to the test, given the magnitude of the frontal system and the many, and varied impacts. And while the weather has cleared, there is still much work to be done. The City's overall efforts are being coordinated by the Disaster Risk Management Centre, through our Disaster Coordinating Team, and we must extend our sincere appreciation to everyone involved in this mammoth undertaking.’’

Meanwhile, the City’s enforcement agencies made 418 arrests in the past week, which saw a 20% increase week on week.

Smith lamented the number of drivers arrested for being intoxicated behind the wheel.

‘’The statistics also show that there were at least 79 motor vehicle and pedestrian accidents recorded by the PECC, while our enforcement staff made 77 arrests for drunk driving. The weather clearly didn't slow down these individuals, but hopefully the time spent behind bars will have given them some pause for thought,’’ said JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security.

 

Done By: Alungile Njemla