Before the first rescue craft even touched the water, the scale of the emergency was already clear, Cape {town} Etc reports. Farm workers and their families had spent the night on rooftops, surrounded by rising floodwaters on a farm between Worcester and Rawsonville along the Old N1.
Farm workers and their families had spent the night on rooftops, surrounded by rising floodwaters on a farm between Worcester and Rawsonville along the Old N1.
By Tuesday morning, word filtered through to emergency services: people, including babies, elderly residents, and persons with disabilities, were stranded, cold, and cut off. What followed was a long, punishing rescue mission that stretched deep into the night and ended in both relief and heartbreak. Rescuers mobilised from the Kleinmond Station 42 base, towing their JetRIB rescue craft and bringing along smaller CROCS flotation craft.
Additional NSRI teams fromFrom the nearest accessible point along the Old N1, rescuers launched into water that had swallowed fields, roads, and buildings. Wearing wetsuits and wet-weather gear, they navigated debris-filled floodwater to reach the farm. There, they found 23 people huddled on the roofs of farm structures. They had reportedly been stranded since Monday.
Among them were babies, toddlers, children, elderly residents, a blind man, and a paraplegic man. Even domestic animals had been lifted onto rooftops in a desperate attempt to keep them alive. Using ladders and the buoyancy of the rescue craft, crews worked in relays, moving people to safety one group at a time. In places, rescuers had to swim or wade through water where boats could not pass.
Once evacuated, the survivors were brought onto dry ground and placed in the care of the farmer. Rescuers located and recovered the bodies of two men and one woman. Their remains were handed over to police and Government Health Forensic Pathology Services. Despite efforts, a number of farm animals, domestic animals, and wildlife — including snakes — could not be rescued as conditions became too risky for teams to proceed.
Rescuers remain hopeful that some animals may have survived as water levels begin to drop.
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