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Wander the World: Breede River flooding impact on tourism · Wander the World with Pippa Hudson

0:00
Speaker 1: It's been about a week since really truly historic storms
0:03
Speaker 1: swept through the Western Cape, and as you know, they
0:06
Speaker 1: left roads damaged, businesses disrupted, many communities struggling to recover.
0:12
Speaker 1: Rainfall levels hitting one hundred and fifty sometimes two hundred
0:15
Speaker 1: millimeters in places, particularly in mountainous areas. The result was
0:19
Speaker 1: rivers bursting their banks and simply raging through a number
0:23
Speaker 1: of towns, including Wucesta, Rawsonville, and Robertson. Huge impact on infrastructure,
0:28
Speaker 1: on agriculture, on tourism, businesses, of course, on human life.
0:33
Speaker 1: We know at least eleven lives lost as a result
0:35
Speaker 1: of these storms. It's massive. And you know, driving into
0:39
Speaker 1: Frontship on Friday one was aware of storm damage on
0:43
Speaker 1: one of the cleaning of storm damage and of debris
0:46
Speaker 1: the whole way through to the village. But once I
0:49
Speaker 1: got to the village itself, everything had been spruced up
0:52
Speaker 1: and cleared away to make the town beautiful for the
0:54
Speaker 1: literary festival, and several times during the weekend I had
0:58
Speaker 1: that experience of looking up and seeing the water that
1:00
Speaker 1: was still sort of pouring off the mountains and flowing
1:02
Speaker 1: into the channels, and thinking, gosh, on the other side
1:05
Speaker 1: of those mountains, I would be seeing something very, very
1:08
Speaker 1: different because in the valley of the Breader River they
1:12
Speaker 1: were still utter devastation. So with great thanks to the
1:16
Speaker 1: guest who was meant to be joining us for travel today,
1:18
Speaker 1: who's agreed to postpone their interview, and I won't say
1:21
Speaker 1: more until we've confirmed a new date for them, but
1:23
Speaker 1: we really just thought it would be pertinent today to
1:27
Speaker 1: check in with the tourism industry, in particular in the
1:29
Speaker 1: Breder River Valley, to talk about how to support the
1:33
Speaker 1: businesses that have been devastated by the impact of these storms.
1:37
Speaker 1: We're first going to speak to somebody from Breader Valley Tourism,
1:40
Speaker 1: and then a little bit later on we will hear
1:42
Speaker 1: from one of the farmers which has been hardest hit
1:44
Speaker 1: in the Robertson area, the area the fun Luifer and
1:47
Speaker 1: Family vineyards. I don't know if you've seen some of
1:49
Speaker 1: the footage and the photographs that have been shared on
1:51
Speaker 1: social media, incredible aerial photography by Jean Trespund shared on Facebook,
1:56
Speaker 1: which really shows you just how significantly some of these
1:59
Speaker 1: properties were. So thank you to both of them for
2:02
Speaker 1: being willing to chat to us, and also I want
2:05
Speaker 1: to say, a couple of businesses that we reached out
2:07
Speaker 1: to and asked to participate today had to say to us,
2:09
Speaker 1: we literally can't. We are so busy dealing with the
2:13
Speaker 1: devastation and the immediate impact on not just forward bookings
2:16
Speaker 1: for tourists, but accommodation for our own staff and the likes.
2:20
Speaker 1: That's got to be our focus, and that really gives
2:23
Speaker 1: you some insight into the level of devastation. Let's start
2:27
Speaker 1: with mel Marie Liver, who is on the line to
2:28
Speaker 1: us a part of Breader Valley Tourism, and it's going
2:31
Speaker 1: to give us a bit of an overview before we
2:33
Speaker 1: speak to an individual property to hear more about their experience. Now, Marie,
2:37
Speaker 1: thank you so much for your time this afternoon, because
2:39
Speaker 1: I'm sure you two are being absolutely run off your
2:42
Speaker 1: feet trying to support all of your members who've been impacted.
2:45
Speaker 1: We appreciate you joining us today.
2:47
Speaker 2: Hi, afternoon, Purpose, thank you so much for having me.
2:50
Speaker 1: It's a pleasure.
2:51
Speaker 2: You know.
2:52
Speaker 1: I can talk about the Brider River Valley, but of
2:54
Speaker 1: course it's not one sort of distinct entity, mel Marie.
2:56
Speaker 1: Within that valley, there are different towns and different tourism
3:00
Speaker 1: areas and all of them will have experienced the flood
3:03
Speaker 1: slightly differently from from the next place. Do you want
3:05
Speaker 1: to start by just talking through what has happened and
3:08
Speaker 1: what has been the most significant impact in some of
3:11
Speaker 1: your major destinations.
3:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, just to start off, I was born and
3:17
Speaker 2: raised in boos there and this is honestly the worst
3:20
Speaker 2: storm I've ever experienced in the Brear Valley. There was
3:24
Speaker 2: literally just we drive down the street and there's not
3:28
Speaker 2: one home or with a broken tree or uprooted tree,
3:32
Speaker 2: and it's all trees that you actually grew up with
3:35
Speaker 2: lying on their side, just with their roots exposed. But
3:39
Speaker 2: going further into the rural areas, it had a major
3:44
Speaker 2: impact on tourism, on our agriculture, especially our infrastructure, so
3:51
Speaker 2: accommodation establishment they experienced like cancelations, gaest struggle to reach
3:56
Speaker 2: us there and some of the guests had to stay
3:59
Speaker 2: at night extra two nice extra to get back to
4:02
Speaker 2: to Cape Town. So so all over it it was
4:06
Speaker 2: really devastating, especially with the electricity outages. Our water supply
4:13
Speaker 2: was was cut off for a few days. But but
4:17
Speaker 2: at the same time, what stood out during this whole
4:20
Speaker 2: difficult period we went through was the incredible community spirit
4:24
Speaker 2: and the resilience that was shown across the region. So,
4:28
Speaker 2: like you said, we have the Breda Valley consists of
4:31
Speaker 2: four towns, so it's Rawsenboul was standing the durings and
4:33
Speaker 2: To's river, so Woosters and the Durings was it's the hardest,
4:39
Speaker 2: especially where the flooding its venues. It is the agriculture,
4:44
Speaker 2: our table grapes, everything was just yeah, it was. It
4:48
Speaker 2: was quite severe. But yeah, talking about the tourism site,
4:53
Speaker 2: I actually have some accommodation places on farms. They still
4:57
Speaker 2: don't know what what last that have because they're still
5:01
Speaker 2: waiting for for the water to reside. Wow, so they
5:03
Speaker 2: can actually reach their venues to see what's going on
5:06
Speaker 2: there and then like a time as Yes, they did
5:12
Speaker 2: have some rainfall and wind, but they actually said they
5:16
Speaker 2: are actually they weren't hit that hot. And I mean
5:20
Speaker 2: it's just on the other side of the Eggs River party,
5:24
Speaker 2: so yeah, it was quite. Yeah, I think we are
5:28
Speaker 2: all still shocked.
5:29
Speaker 1: I mean, that's extraordinary that the water still hasn't subsided
5:32
Speaker 1: from some of the properties. Now, Marie, you know, I
5:34
Speaker 1: hadn't realized that it was still that severe because I've
5:37
Speaker 1: seen the area footage of the flooding when it has
5:39
Speaker 1: a very clear vision of how far over the banks
5:43
Speaker 1: the water is spilled. But to think that some of
5:45
Speaker 1: those places are still underwater, you know, that gives you
5:49
Speaker 1: an understanding of the extent of the damage. Obviously, water
5:53
Speaker 1: that has fallen deep in the mountains is still making
5:55
Speaker 1: its way into the river system, So I guess that
5:58
Speaker 1: would explain why it's not a case of oh, well,
6:00
Speaker 1: let the some come out and the water go down,
6:02
Speaker 1: because of course still more water is pouring in from
6:05
Speaker 1: from further up the river. But now, Marie, I mean
6:08
Speaker 1: you talk about electricity supply, water supply being cut off.
6:11
Speaker 1: I've seen footage of bridges washed away and roads cut off.
6:15
Speaker 1: In terms of actual physical access to these properties, is
6:18
Speaker 1: anybody still cut off or have you managed to at
6:21
Speaker 1: least find a way to reconnect every property back to
6:25
Speaker 1: civilization as such?
6:28
Speaker 2: Well, at this stage, I think everyone has been reached.
6:32
Speaker 2: I think everyone has been rescued and that that was
6:36
Speaker 2: cut off, But we still have the challenges of roads
6:38
Speaker 2: that was washed away, especially on the farms where most
6:43
Speaker 2: of our children establishers are situated. So yeah, they are
6:48
Speaker 2: now just stality working around the clock getting the roads fixed,
6:51
Speaker 2: because I mean, tourism needs to go on. They've got
6:55
Speaker 2: to do needs to go on. So now I think
6:58
Speaker 2: the I've thought that people are they say, in a
7:02
Speaker 2: social space, but still cut off from connectivity like Wi
7:05
Speaker 2: Fi or internet, just communicating or getting provisions to and
7:10
Speaker 2: from your people are making plans we had. I know
7:14
Speaker 2: this one guy he actually does the transfer galas. He
7:19
Speaker 2: went in his boat and he went and took supplies
7:21
Speaker 2: to people. I mean, it's again just the community coming together. Yeah,
7:26
Speaker 2: it's really great to see that.
7:29
Speaker 1: Now, Marie. I mean what you've just said is so
7:31
Speaker 1: important to emphasize to our listeners who might be listening
7:33
Speaker 1: here in Cape Town, you know, perhaps a little bit
7:36
Speaker 1: removed from all of this, but perhaps have forward bookings
7:39
Speaker 1: for a weekend away and a farm cottage in the
7:41
Speaker 1: mountains somewhere and be wondering, what, you know, what will happen?
7:45
Speaker 1: Can they get there, will the property be open? Is
7:47
Speaker 1: the cottage they were going to stay stay in even
7:49
Speaker 1: still standing and maybe be feeling frustrated because they haven't
7:53
Speaker 1: heard anything what you've just said. I think I want
7:56
Speaker 1: to repeat loud and clear. Some of these properties are
7:58
Speaker 1: still cut off without restoration of Wi Fi and internet,
8:03
Speaker 1: so their ability to communicate with future travelers is limited.
8:08
Speaker 1: You know, I've got a long weekend planned for two
8:11
Speaker 1: weeks time, and I was astonished to get an email
8:13
Speaker 1: from them already mel Marie just a day or two
8:15
Speaker 1: ago saying it's okay. You will have seen that the
8:18
Speaker 1: access road you should have taken is not available anymore,
8:20
Speaker 1: but this is how you get to us, and your
8:22
Speaker 1: property is going to be fine that you're staying in.
8:24
Speaker 1: And I just thought, wow, you know, that was really
8:27
Speaker 1: really professional communication. But of course they can do that
8:30
Speaker 1: because obviously they've got their email and internet back up
8:32
Speaker 1: and running. From what you've said, a number of properties
8:35
Speaker 1: aren't that lucky yet?
8:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so a lot of the properties are not,
8:41
Speaker 2: you know, at that stage yet. It's mostly more to
8:43
Speaker 2: the during side that I know of, I know, like
8:47
Speaker 2: laws and are guys and with the guys are all
8:49
Speaker 2: up and running again or not up and running, but
8:52
Speaker 2: as they do have connectivity when I know, they eat challenges,
8:56
Speaker 2: especially with farms situated very deep into the mountains or so. Yeah.
9:01
Speaker 2: That that's because the infrastructure is the water is literally
9:06
Speaker 2: just the structive get all the way.
9:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay. Well, if nothing else, I hope listeners take
9:11
Speaker 1: away from this the need to just be a little
9:12
Speaker 1: bit patient as they wait for further communication Numery. Before
9:17
Speaker 1: we wrap with you and hand over to hear a
9:19
Speaker 1: personal story from from front Louer in a state, what
9:22
Speaker 1: is the message you would like to put out there
9:24
Speaker 1: to South Africans on the best way to support your
9:27
Speaker 1: community and particularly these tourism businesses which face such devastating
9:31
Speaker 1: losses and and and rebuilding costs and everything that comes
9:35
Speaker 1: with it. What would your message be on the best
9:37
Speaker 1: way to be a help rather than a hindrance.
9:41
Speaker 2: Yeah. So one of the most important ways for the
9:44
Speaker 2: public to actually help is despite the continuing to support
9:47
Speaker 2: the local tourism businesses, those as well are thought operational.
9:52
Speaker 2: I mean, people can starve it as the region I
9:55
Speaker 2: wrote are open and they could still book accommodation even
9:58
Speaker 2: if it's not for now just or later period. Support
10:02
Speaker 2: restaurants are wine stants business sales that installed in the
10:07
Speaker 2: recovery phase. They can also be supported through online purchases
10:11
Speaker 2: buying local products and wines. I mean every booking or
10:15
Speaker 2: visit and purchase really makes a difference during the recovery
10:18
Speaker 2: period and many parts of the Breder value are operational
10:21
Speaker 2: again and we are ready to welcome visitors.
10:24
Speaker 1: That's absolutely remarkable given what you've been through now, marie Le,
10:27
Speaker 1: but thank you so much for the updates speaking to
10:29
Speaker 1: us there from Breder Valley Tourism to give us the
10:31
Speaker 1: sort of the broad overview, and please take to heart
10:34
Speaker 1: what she said about the need to keep your support
10:37
Speaker 1: pledged to this area. And also I think very important
10:40
Speaker 1: the message around patients. While some of these properties get
10:43
Speaker 1: back on their feet, Let's bring in a personal story
10:46
Speaker 1: of one property, if I can call it that. Murray
10:49
Speaker 1: mclaney is with us on the line, who is the
10:51
Speaker 1: marketing manager for fun Louerfer and Family Vineyards. And if
10:55
Speaker 1: you've seen the areal footage of their part of the world,
10:58
Speaker 1: you will know what devisa has been wrought on their
11:01
Speaker 1: vineyards and facilities. And Martley, thank you so much for
11:04
Speaker 1: joining us to tell us a little bit more about it.
11:06
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry that the business is facing this challenge,
11:09
Speaker 1: but we appreciate your time.
11:11
Speaker 3: Hello Pepper, thanks very much for for the chance to
11:13
Speaker 3: be able to tell our story. Yeah, certain is an
11:16
Speaker 3: interesting time to be part of. From Lufrin. You know,
11:19
Speaker 3: we honor strangers to floods. We have had floods in
11:22
Speaker 3: nineteen eighty one and in twenty twenty four were also
11:25
Speaker 3: quite hit, but nothing quite as unprecedented as what happened
11:29
Speaker 3: on the quiltfield.
11:30
Speaker 1: May tell us a little bit more about the extent
11:33
Speaker 1: of the damage and what you went through during the storm.
11:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, so, I mean as you touched on that, there
11:40
Speaker 3: was heavy a rainfall that happened upstream in areas like
11:43
Speaker 3: the Choice Glove Serious and flung Roup, which just resulted
11:46
Speaker 3: in massive volumes of water flowing down into the Breder
11:48
Speaker 3: Rhythm in that flooded through Robertson and then came through
11:52
Speaker 3: to the cellar well. While we anticipated the flooding and
11:55
Speaker 3: we did put precautionary measures into place, no one could
11:58
Speaker 3: have predicted the scale of what would so unfortunately we
12:02
Speaker 3: did suffer quite a lot of significant damages to the infrastructure,
12:06
Speaker 3: our storage facilities, vineyards and then obviously stock you might
12:10
Speaker 3: have seen on the news. We predict it's about one
12:13
Speaker 3: point three million bottles of wine that was in our
12:15
Speaker 3: main storage facility. There was ready for export and local market,
12:19
Speaker 3: which now has to be cleaned up. We also had
12:23
Speaker 3: some extensive damage to our battery room. We've got about
12:27
Speaker 3: one thousand, two hundred solar panels on our roof and
12:30
Speaker 3: then the lethean battery room was completely underwater and that
12:36
Speaker 3: putses chemical reaction, so the battery room see the light
12:39
Speaker 3: as well on top of the flooding. So we but
12:43
Speaker 3: luckily that was contained very quickly and we managed to
12:45
Speaker 3: get that under control. Because there were some roomors circulating
12:49
Speaker 3: that from roofrin was burning down as well, but it
12:51
Speaker 3: was only the battery room luckily. Yeah, so we you know,
12:56
Speaker 3: we only got electricity to the farm I think about
12:59
Speaker 3: Friday morning so that we could start assessing how much
13:03
Speaker 3: damage there actually isn't you know. They're still parts of
13:06
Speaker 3: the cellar where we don't have electricity, but for most
13:09
Speaker 3: part we can see outside the winery this part fifty
13:12
Speaker 3: hectored that has been affected. And then obviously within the
13:17
Speaker 3: cellar we lost some barrels and then yeah, all that
13:22
Speaker 3: stopped that was that was in the storeroom.
13:25
Speaker 1: Terry taking a chance on the email wondering if any
13:27
Speaker 1: of that stock is floating down river. You did say
13:30
Speaker 1: it's going to be cleaned up and really labeled et cetera.
13:34
Speaker 1: It's all still there, right, Yeah, So well.
13:40
Speaker 3: No, that's trust me that she's certainly not the first
13:43
Speaker 3: person that's been asking this question. I've been inundated with
13:45
Speaker 3: people wanting to know if they can take some flood
13:48
Speaker 3: wine off our hands. So at the moment, our immediate
13:51
Speaker 3: focus is just on clean up operations, and they will
13:54
Speaker 3: likely be some flooded flood affected with stock available at
13:56
Speaker 3: a later stage and we'll communicate that time. It's right.
14:00
Speaker 3: We just need to focus on operation cleanup. So how
14:03
Speaker 3: we're tackling the storeroom is quite remarkable, how the team
14:06
Speaker 3: have just or pulled end together. We've got lifts coming in,
14:12
Speaker 3: We've got crates where we've packed up, hand packing everybody
14:15
Speaker 3: into the crates, using forklifts to take them out, transport
14:20
Speaker 3: them to different storage facilities, and then we still have
14:22
Speaker 3: to remove the wet cardboard boxes that they were in.
14:25
Speaker 3: It's been ongoing since Thursday when we could start tackling
14:28
Speaker 3: the entrance of the storeroom, and there's two massive storerooms.
14:33
Speaker 3: We worked the whole weekend long, and the operation clean
14:36
Speaker 3: up this store ongoing. So we've got a committed team.
14:40
Speaker 3: The spirit of everybody here from the staff and as
14:43
Speaker 3: now when we retouched on the community and the willingness
14:47
Speaker 3: of the people to stand together in as difficult time
14:49
Speaker 3: has been incredible. We've seen such an incredible outpour of
14:53
Speaker 3: support from our teams, the neighbors, customers, retail and trade
14:57
Speaker 3: partners and just a broader community. How everybody is wanting
15:01
Speaker 3: to assist us and help us rebuild.
15:04
Speaker 1: That's fantastic to hear. Marrilean, one of our listeners asking
15:07
Speaker 1: about the damage to the vineyards themselves. I mean, you
15:09
Speaker 1: said fifty hectares affected. Were those vines washed away? Drowned?
15:14
Speaker 1: Are some of them salvageable? Do you know yet?
15:18
Speaker 3: Even No, at this point, it doesn't look like those
15:21
Speaker 3: vineyards are salvageable at all. If you look further down
15:25
Speaker 3: to the Red Bridge, which now we were touched on,
15:27
Speaker 3: which had washed away by one of our farms, it's
15:31
Speaker 3: it's just river rocks and planned at the moment, so
15:34
Speaker 3: there's absolutely no way. And some of the vineyards we
15:36
Speaker 3: had replanted after the flats in twenty twenty four has
15:40
Speaker 3: now been washed away again.
15:41
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean it's devastating. But Merrilly, it sounds
15:44
Speaker 1: like you guys have been very quick to start mopping
15:47
Speaker 1: up operations as difficult as it is, and a salute
15:51
Speaker 1: to you and the whole team who's involved in that.
15:53
Speaker 1: I'm going to ask you the same final question I
15:55
Speaker 1: asked now Marie. What's the best way for a Cape
15:57
Speaker 1: Talk listener listening to this interview to help support Funnel
16:00
Speaker 1: right now?
16:01
Speaker 3: Well, I think with all the wineries that have been
16:03
Speaker 3: affected down here, because you're not the only winery, obviously,
16:07
Speaker 3: the biggest support that you can give us is just
16:09
Speaker 3: to keep buying our wines from retailers and restaurants and
16:12
Speaker 3: if you see it on the winelest's pick it up
16:14
Speaker 3: and obviously visit our tasting rooms once we're up and
16:16
Speaker 3: running it again. Even though some of the accommodation facilities
16:20
Speaker 3: have been affected in Robertson, we do still have a
16:22
Speaker 3: wine festival to Sip and Save at the Mountains, which
16:25
Speaker 3: is happening at the end of the month the City
16:27
Speaker 3: at Synthetic First at a Bold in Robertsons where all
16:32
Speaker 3: our wineries are going to show up perhaps with our
16:35
Speaker 3: flight affected wines. We fund reference luckily in a very
16:39
Speaker 3: fortunate position and that we do have different bottling facilities
16:42
Speaker 3: and shortage facilities and we're all our wine off. Twenty
16:46
Speaker 3: twenty six harvests were safely in tanks, so we are
16:48
Speaker 3: obviously transporting that to get that rebottled up and running again.
16:53
Speaker 1: Fantastic, Marilie. Thank you so much for the thoughts for
16:56
Speaker 1: the other wineries as well. I think that's remarkable given
16:58
Speaker 1: what you personally offering at FUNDO, and that you take
17:01
Speaker 1: the time to recognize it's an industry wide issue and
17:04
Speaker 1: wonderful to know there is a very practical way to
17:06
Speaker 1: help by supporting the save affests. So we will remind
17:09
Speaker 1: our listeners a little bit closer to the time to
17:11
Speaker 1: please do that. And all the best to you and
17:13
Speaker 1: the team for the intervening weeks and for the rebuilding operation.
17:17
Speaker 3: Thank you very much for Villa. It's long road ahead,
17:19
Speaker 3: but determination of our staff and families in the community
17:23
Speaker 3: gives us a lot of hope for what's next to come.
17:25
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Marilee mclaney and I have to say,
17:27
Speaker 1: if the best way to help is to keep drinking
17:29
Speaker 1: the wine, that's not exactly a chore, is it. I'll
17:31
Speaker 1: be glad to help. MARLEI thank you, marketing manager for
17:34
Speaker 1: Fundlow for and Family Vineyards.