The Paarl Mediclinic hospital was forced to temporarily close its main entrance and emergency unit due to flooding. (Facebook/Mediclinic Paarl)
- The emergency room at a Paarl hospital was closed after flooding.
- Several towns in the Western Cape have seen heavy rains and flooding, with hundreds evacuated from their homes.
- The Gift of the Givers has been providing more than 10 000 hot meals daily.
Sections of a hospital in Paarl have been temporarily closed after heavy flooding.
The Mediclinic hospital was forced to temporarily close its main entrance and emergency unit.
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In a statement, Mediclinic said: “Mediclinic Paarl experienced excessive rainfall over the past few days, which caused flooding in certain areas. As a result, the emergency centre has been temporarily relocated to an alternative site in the hospital.
“Due to this relocation, Mediclinic Paarl is able to offer a limited emergency centre service, but will continue to prioritise life-threatening medical emergencies.”
The hospital has requested that patients use alternative facilities for “non-threatening medical support”, such as Mediclinic Cape Gate, Mediclinic Stellenbosch, or the Paarl Provincial Hospital, and said that no patients were harmed during the flooding.
The statement read:
We would like to reassure patients’ families and friends that their loved ones have not been impacted by these events and that we remain committed to prioritising their comfort and care. We thank the community members for the support they have expressed during this challenging time.
Drakenstein Municipality said its teams have, in the meantime, cleared the areas and reduced water levels.
Meanwhile, around 900 evacuated Wellington residents have been given the green light to return to their homes.
Working in consultation with the Department of Water and Sanitation and a dam engineering specialist, Drakenstein Municipality’s engineering services department performed an onsite inspection of the farm dam above Newton on Sunday morning, and confirmed that the risk of dam wall failure had been mitigated.
The residents were evacuated on Tuesday, amid fears that the dam wall would fail.
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Gift of the Givers is currently distributing more than 10 000 hot meals daily to thousands of the province’s residents who have been affected by flooding.
Operations manager Ali Sablay said the organisation has been providing humanitarian aid for more than a week, since flooding started in Cape Town suburbs on Friday.
Teams have been busy providing blankets, warm clothing, and meals.
Their work extended to the Cape Winelands and Cederberg on Tuesday, after numerous residents were evacuated from their homes in towns such as Rawsonville, Worcester and Wellington.
The community of Citrusdal remains cut off, after a section of the access road washed away on Friday, with numerous other towns experiencing widespread flooding.
Nicole McCain
www.news24.com
