Newcastle residents recently bore witness to a tornado and severe weather conditions, with several residents in Madadeni and Osizweni bearing the brunt of the inclement weather. The tornado was spotted on 3 June 2024, between the N11 and Utrecht, with Newcastillian News sharing video footage of the weather anomaly.
To read more on the tornado, click here.
Firstly, following the destructive weather conditions and two tornadoes, which impacted parts of KwaZulu-Natal, the South African Weather Service (SAWS) explained that South Africa does get tornadoes from time to time, particularly when large and intense weather systems affect the country.
“Following media questions on whether these occurrences can be associated with climate change, it is safe to say that, although a singular weather event cannot be directly correlated to climate change, climatologists agree that these types of weather systems may become more frequent and intense in the future due to a warming climate,” SAWS noted.
With this in mind, SAWS highlighted its early warning system, known as the Impact-Based Warning system. “It categorises the levels according to the impacts expected per weather event. The warning system does not focus solely on tornadoes or as a specialised forecast, but it has a category for Severe Thunderstorms which may include heavy downpours that might lead to flooding, large hail or large amounts of small hail, as well as strong damaging winds and a tornado at an extreme supercell weather event like in KwaZulu-Natal.”
However, while SAWS has an early warning system in place, how ready is the Newcastle Municipality to respond to disasters? This is a question that the Newcastle Municipality answered in its recently approved Integrated Development Plan (IDP) Review.
According to the Municipality, Newcastle consists of 34 wards with varied levels of vulnerability to disasters. “It is also prone to a wide range of natural and manmade risks and hazards that, in some instances, may result in disasters,” explained the Municipality in its IDP Review.
These mainly include floods and fires which occur throughout the year, usually resulting in serious damages, costs, loss of life and/or property, infrastructure, and economic livelihoods.
The government entity also pointed out that Section 26(g) of Municipal Systems Act No. 32 of 2000 required the IDP to reflect an applicable Disaster Management Plan. Subsequently, Section 53(2)(a) of Disaster Management Act No. 57 of 2002 specifies that a disaster management plan for a municipal area must form an integral part of the municipality’s IDP.
As the Integrated Development Plan is the go-to plan for a municipality over a five-year term, integration of the Disaster Management Plan in the IDP ensures that the municipality does not embark on development that increases communities’ vulnerability to disaster. However, the disaster management plan ensures that the municipality embarks on programmes that lessen the community’s risk of disaster while increasing its resilience to events that cannot be avoided.
Therefore, as explained by the IDP Review, the Newcastle Municipality Disaster Management Plan was drafted by the Newcastle Municipality Disaster Management Advisory Forum in February 2014 and adopted by the full Council in August 2017. The plan is currently being reviewed as per legislative prescripts.
Nevertheless, the plan aims to achieve the following objectives:
- Prevention and reduction of disaster risks.
- Mitigation of impacts; preparedness for effective response to disasters.
- Minimize loss and property damage; and quick recovery from the impacts.
“The Plan articulates actions to prevent and mitigate disasters and how risk reduction measures are dealt with in the long-term, as well as managing emergencies in the short term, including aspects of preparedness, response, and recovery. The Plan is a live document and as a result is updated regularly and will be reviewed every two years as per the disaster management policy framework prescripts,” the Municipality explained in its IDP.
Moreover, the structure of the Disaster Management Plan is guided by the Disaster Management Policy Framework, which stipulates that it should comprise four Key Performance Areas, namely:
- Institutional Arrangements
- Disaster Risk Assessment
- Disaster Risk Reduction
- Response & Recovery
The four key performance areas are supported by three enablers namely:
- Information Communication Technology
- Education, Awareness, Training and Research
- Funding
Furthermore, it should be highlighted that the Newcastle Municipality is also part of the Amajuba District Fire Technical Task Team, which holds strategic planning meetings twice a year.
Additionally, the Municipality noted it has also established strong relations with NGOs, CBOs, Government, and Private Sector stakeholders, including the Farmers Associations, ArcelorMittal, KarboChem, and more.
“In terms of the employment of dedicated and skilled personnel for the disaster management function, the Fire Services Department of the Newcastle Local Municipality currently has one dedicated member for Disaster Management. This is largely due to budget constraints, which thus requires the allocation of an additional budget for the appointment of additional staff,” the IDP Review further noted.
When looking at a few of the other challenges the Disaster Management and Fire Services are currently faced with the following issues stand out:
- Insufficient fire personnel and equipment.
- Insufficient budget to deal with fire and rescue issues.
- Lack of qualified and designated personnel for Disaster Risk Management.
- Lack of adequate budget allocation for disaster related activities.
However, when looking at manpower, the Newcastle Municipality sports the following:
- Newcastle Fire Station: 1 Divisional Commander: Fire Safety & Disaster and 1 Senior Station Officer: Fire Safety & Disaster.
- 1 Divisional Commander: Fire Operations, 1 Station Officer: Fire Operations, 4 Leading Firefighters, and 18 firefighters.
- When it comes to additional staff required to meet the necessary SANS 10090:2003 requirements, Newcastle Fire Station also has one chief fire officer and 20 firefighters for fire operations.
- For Disaster Management, the Newcastle Municipality’s IDP Review noted the government entity also had a Disaster Management head and 2 Disaster Management practitioners.
Lastly, according to the Newcastle Municipality’s IDP Review, the Municipality is mostly threatened by the following hazards:
- Veld fires
- Dwellings/Structural fires
- COVID-19
- Lightning
- Strong winds
- Heavy rains
- Floods
- Hail Storm
- Drought
- Snow
- Hazmat
- Water Borne Disease
With both SAWS and Newcastle Municipality showcasing a degree of readiness for potential weather-related disasters, what are your thoughts on the above?
Share your views in the comment section below.
Comments 1
Please keep the drains clean it spells desaster ,fix sewerage blocked pipes and burst pipes so the rain water can freely go through .