The Western Cape suffered R9 Billion worth of damage in the recent floods.
A devastating series of consecutive weather systems has left the Western Cape grappling with a catastrophic R9 billion repair bill, triggering a profound economic crisis and sparking urgent calls for a radical overhaul of how South Africa finances agricultural climate risks.
Following a special provincial cabinet meeting on Thursday Premier Alan Winde confirmed that the back-to-back storms which battered the province in May were "the worst in recent memory." packing ferocious winds of 120 km/h and dumping 300mm of torrential rain in a single week, the severe weather systems have claimed 11 lives, left one person missing, and utterly devastated critical rural economies.
Preliminary, unverified figures peg the total cost of the destruction at an astonishing R9,099,211,941. The humanitarian impact is equally staggering, with 231,029 citizens severely affected and 22,890 homes damaged across the province.
"Our province has had to endure many disasters. But the last two weather events were the worst in recent memory," Premier Winde said in his opening remarks to the cabinet.
