“A One-in-Fifty-Year Flood is Now Normal”: Winde Warns Cape Chamber Members of Rising Disaster Costs

The Western Cape must prepare for ‘Climate Unusual’ and the increasing frequency of severe weather and associated disaster management.

So says Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, who believes the Province must investigate new budgeting mechanisms to enable it to cope with climate-related disasters.

The bill for the latest floods tops R9-billion, more than ten times national government's total disaster management budget of R600-million, Winde said at a Cape Chamber engagement last week. 

He said floodlines also needed to be redrawn in the light of recent experience, along with new ways of protecting public infrastructure and storing water. “A one in fifty-year flood is now normal,” Winde said, adding that innovative new bridge construction was required to withstand the deluge. "You have to start budgeting differently. We've got to get treasury to start helping us to budget in such a way that we are mitigating the impacts,” Winde said, adding that budgets needed to support rebuilding that proactively addressed potential future flood impacts.  “Formulas need to change. When we build now it needs to be a bigger drain, and a bigger pipe – that has to be in the design manual.”

“Predictions are that we will have more rain in a shorter period.” 

Already some flood-prone areas were uninsurable, presenting a conundrum for city planners and homeowners. Planning needed to take cognisance of updated flood lines. "How do we as government do blanket planning for them?” Winde said, adding that innovative solutions could incentivise flood-affected homeowners to rebuild properties behind updated flood lines.

Winde also spoke of potential future water storage plans, such as aquifer storage of stormwater runoff.