The Head of Disaster Management in the Western Cape, Colin Deiner, has confirmed that the severe weather experienced over large parts of the province and the country since 4 May has been classified as a National Disaster.

Deiner says they received the classification from the National Disaster Risk Management Centre late yesterday, 9 May.

Heavy rainfall, flooding, thunderstorms, damaging winds and snowfall have caused widespread destruction, loss of life, damage to infrastructure and disruption of essential services in parts of the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, North West, Free State and Mpumalanga.

The Garden Route and the Central Karoo in the Western Cape have borne the brunt of the severe weather in the province.

The Disaster Classification comes amid a Level 8 warning for disruptive rainfall, leading to flooding of roads, bridges and formal and informal settlements, mudslides and danger to life due to fast-flowing rivers over the mountainous regions of the Drakenstein, Stellenbosch, the western parts of the Theewaterskloof, City of Cape Town, Breede Valley and Witzenberg local municipalities from today,  Sunday 10 May, to Tuesday.

There is also an Orange level 6 warning for disruptive rainfall over the West Coast, Cape Winelands, and western parts of the Overberg District from Sunday to Tuesday.

The Disaster Classification means government structures across all spheres can now strengthen their coordinated disaster response, relief and recovery efforts to support affected communities.

Funding can be used to repair infrastructure once damage assessments are concluded.