Animals evacuated as swollen river floods wildlife ranch in Oudtshoorn

Staff were forced to hastily evacuate animals after heavy rain led to a swollen river bursting its banks and flooding the Cango Wildlife Ranch in Oudtshoorn, which has been temporarily closed.

Humanitarian assistance is also being provided for dozens of trapped families cut off by the floods and persistent rain in the Garden Route district municipality.

“We were notified of heavy waterflow heading towards the facility [on Tuesday] by a disaster management representative and started preparing for a worst-case scenario,” said Tammy Moult, assistant director of tourism at the ranch in the Western Cape.

“We closed the facility to the public and started evacuating our animals to our private reserve and care centre.”

Within hours a boundary wall collapsed along the neighbouring Grobbelaars River, flooding the central areas of the facility.

“The volume and influx of the water was significant and we had to work quickly to evacuate areas deemed safe before the wall collapse,” said Moult.

“Based on water markers, it is estimated the river rose, on our premises, by just under 4m. Several areas and camps were consumed by water.”

The ranch has species of birds, mammals, snakes, reptiles, fish and big cats including lions, leopards, tigers and cheetahs. It also offers crocodile cage diving in summer.

Marketing manager Anneke Lategan said on Thursday mopping up efforts had started in the big cat enclosures.

“Today [Thursday] we are cleaning that up as well as our farmyard and children's play area where the wall collapsed. We are slowly cleaning out the debris and breaking down the walls that were damaged.”  

All animals were safely relocated except a red-rumped agouti that escaped its enclosure during the evacuation, jumped over a wall into the flooded service area and was caught up in the rapids.

The damage included structural damage, damage to water pumps and filtration systems, electrics and networks, compromised enclosures, outlets, the playpark and restaurant.

The Garden Route district municipality (GRDM) joint operations centre said in an update at 2pm on Thursday water levels in rivers were gradually receding. 

“The water levels did not reach the 1996 levels at the Calitzdorp Hot Springs. Though the water spilling from dams in the catchment matched the 1996 level, they did not peak simultaneously. This resulted in the river flow moving south in 'waves' rather than as a single destructive giant wave,” said GRDM head of disaster management Gerhard Otto.

Numerous roads were closed and at least 17 people have been rescued, including four children.

The municipality said areas cut off by flooding included Vlakteplaas, Meiringspoort (four people), Warmbad (90 families), Muisplaas (30 families), Nel's River, De Rust (17 people) and Middelplaas (30 people).

In an earlier update on Thursday, it said: “In a residential area behind the Calitzdorp Spa there are 88 families trapped. Gift of the Givers is delivering food parcels that will last them for about three days.”

Morne Thysse, acting manager of fire rescue and disaster management, arranged a helicopter with AMS to fly in food parcels as they could not be reached by boat.

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