A SWIFT RESPONSE

SAVES LIVES

After heavy rains left a group of people stranded in Riviersonderend, Sea Rescue volunteers from Kleinmond and Hermanus joined the SAPS diving unit to assist in bringing them to safety. By Cherelle Leong

BY THE MORNING OF 6 May 2021, the Overberg had experienced 200mm to 300mm of rain in 24 hours – more than double the rainfall that had been predicted. With river levels rising rapidly, Regional Disaster Management knew there was a very good chance of people getting stranded owing to flooding and had issued warnings to the public the day before to stay away from rivers and low-lying areas.

Station 42 (Kleinmond) station commander Schalk Boonzaaier received a call from the head of Disaster Management for the Overberg region around midday on 6 May. There was a large group of people stranded in Riviersonderend. While police divers were on the scene assisting them, there were concerns that water levels could rise even further. With half the day already gone and only a few hours of daylight left, there was a risk that they would not be able to get everyone to safety before nightfall without additional rescue resources. Station 42, along with Station 17 (Hermanus) were asked to assist.

Kleinmond activated with five crew members – Michael Kiesling, Schalk Boonzaaier, Riaan Smit, Marco Pretorius, Merwe Krige and Jaco Stemmet Jnr – and hitched up their JetRIB to travel to Riviersonderend. Hermanus responded with three crew, namely André Barnard, Antonie de Klerk and Jean le Roux, as well as their 4.2m RIB. Sea Rescue crews are specifically trained in swift-water rescue to be able to assist when inland flooding occurs. Such an operation requires good knowledge of rope work and careful planning, and is a specialised rescue skill.

DAYLIGHT FADING

It was an 80-minute drive to get to Riviersonderend, and daylight hours were fast slipping away. On arrival, the Sea Rescue crew met up with the police divers on the scene to determine how best they could assist. There were 45 people and a dog still stranded on the other side of the flooded river. The water was flowing quite fast and a great deal of debris was being swept downstream in the flood. The deepest and fastest flowing sections were on the far side of the river, and that was where police divers were using their jet-ski and RIB to ferry people to a low-lying island.

It was decided that the police would continue to work on the faster-flowing side of the river with their two craft and the Sea Rescue crews, rather than launching their craft too, would work on the shallower side of the island, where they could wade through the water safely. Working in tandem in this way would speed up the rescue efforts significantly.

The Sea Rescue team set up a safety line stretching 100m across the water. They then linked the two inflatable rescue crocs together so that six casualties could be ferried across at a time.

These rescue crocs are small non-motorised rescue craft, large enough to accommodate a stretcher or three adults sitting up. They are most often used to recover patients from rocky shorelines but are also ideally suited to swiftwater rescue work. The rescue crocs provide a safe floating platform on which to transport casualties through water, so that they don’t need to get wet in the process.

Considering that the stranded group included many children and elderly people as well as a pregnant woman and a man with a medical condition, it was agreed that this would be the most effective way to get them all safely across the flooded river.

GROUP EFFORT

Working in relays and starting with the pregnant woman and the man with a medical condition, the Sea Rescue crew waded alongside the inflatable crocs, ferrying everyone that had been brought to the island by the police divers to the

area on dry land where a joint operations control centre had been set up. Here medics waited to assess everyone before they were transported to a place of safety. Only six people could be transported at a time, so it was slow going – but all the casualties participated calmly in the rescue while maintaining high spirits.

The rescue was concluded successfully just before dusk. For the police divers on scene it had been a very long, cold and wet day and they were quite relieved finally to be able to recover their rescue craft. This operation is a great example of the success that can be achieved when various organisations work together, each contributing their respective expertise and rescue experience to ensure a positive outcome. Sea Rescue’s mission is to save lives on South African waters and this extends to inland dams and rivers. We’re very glad to be able to assist other rescue organisations when needed and are proud to have helped in getting 45 stranded members of the farming community and a pet dog to safety that day.