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Three weeks after floodwaters surged through the Gamtoos Valley, leaving parts of the area submerged under nearly 3m of water, residents and business owners are still grappling with the devastating aftermath — clearing mud-soaked homes, salvaging what they can and facing the long road to recovery.
On the banks of the Gamtoos River, the iconic Gamtoos Ferry Hotel has become a hive of cleanup activity.
Where a manicured garden once welcomed guests, staff now pressure-cleaned mud-caked mattresses and vintage couches.
Nearby, cutlery and kitchenware were being scrubbed down.
Inside, rooms were slowly being restored after being inundated with contaminated floodwater and thick silt which had packed the walls and floors.
The famous Gamtoos River Ferry lay stranded against a tree, tangled in mielie stalks, and the hotel’s wedding chapel remained covered in debris — stark reminders of the force of the flood.
Hotel owner Roy Herselmann said he and his wife, Annette, had bought the establishment three years ago.
Since then, they had transformed the property into a popular destination.
“Annette and I brought a lot of changes to the Ferry Hotel when we took over and people really liked what she was doing,” he said.
He said many of the antiques and furnishings — carefully sourced from across SA and abroad — had been damaged beyond repair.
“She furnished the place with colonial and vintage antiques she had collected from all over the globe,” he said.
“Those are very difficult to replace.
“The water level was 200mm above the top of the doors throughout the whole place.
“The water was contaminated with a fine mud silt, so when everything dried out, that silt covered everything.”
The couple initially planned to stay on the property during the storm but evacuated after emergency workers warned of a possible 8m surge in water levels.
“We live on the second storey and had planned on staying here,” Herselmann said.
“But when Annette made a huge pot of soup for the emergency workers, they told us that we were taking a chance.
“So we cleared out and went to a guesthouse in Jeffreys Bay.”
Returning to assess the damage was an emotional experience.
“Annette was in tears for days,” he said.
“The amount of destruction was massive.
“I was numb inside.
“When you realise you have to restart the whole thing it is heartbreaking.”
The disaster has also had a direct impact on staff.
More than 40 employees have been placed on disaster notice so they can access UIF support.
Despite the losses, Herselmann praised the swift intervention of their insurance broker.
“Our broker, Thinus Botha from Donsure, was very pre-emptive.
“He rented five huge refrigeration lorries and helped us move items from low-lying rooms.
“I have never heard of an insurance broker going to such lengths to help a client.”
Though the total cost of the damage is still being assessed, the hotel has already spent about R500,000 on clean-up operations.
Efforts are now focused on cataloguing damaged electrical equipment for insurance claims.
Herselmann hopes the hotel will reopen by August or September, though several pre-booked weddings had to be relocated.
“We had 15 weddings lined up but the brides have been very understanding,” he said, adding that the first relocated wedding was successfully hosted at a venue outside Humansdorp.
Community support had also played a crucial role.
“People from all around have been really great.
“Some have even offered to come and help us clean up.”
A few properties away, the 72-year-old owner of a facebrick double-storey house was fixing his gate motor and said that he now owned the “most famous” house in the Eastern Cape.
Various media houses had published photographs of Northern Cape farmer Pienaar Viviers’ house submerged in water.
“I built this house in 2018 so this is the first time it has been flooded like this.
“My house was totally under water.
“According to the assessor, the water level was 3m deep.”
Though much was lost, Viviers remained positive.
“You can’t get the memories back — the photos and things we gathered — but we are still alive and must be grateful for that.”
Some belongings were carried far downstream.
“My cabin boat was found 3km down the river, badly damaged.
“One of my couches was also found far away,” he said, finding a bit of humour in the trying situation.
He managed to save some furniture by moving it upstairs before evacuating — and now says he will be better prepared in future.
“They say this was a once-in-a-100-year flood, so I think this will be my first and last.”
Further upstream in the Patensie area, farmers warned that the long-term impact on agriculture would be severe.
Citrus farmer Corne Muller said he had lost six hectares of 10-year-old lemon trees.
“It will take at least 10 years to restore the farm,” he said.
Muller described how the floodwaters rose rapidly, catching many off guard, especially as power outages had left farmers without access to emergency updates.
“When we eventually got through to the relevant people, they told us that 33-million litres would flood the little bridge in Hankey — but there was so much more on its way.”
Realising the danger, Muller rushed to warn neighbours.
“We managed to get about 130 people out just in time.”
Three weeks later, he still has no electricity or water and the losses continue to mount.
“We missed the big harvest two weeks ago, so that was a huge loss,” he said.
“Many workers have very little left.”
Without water and electricity, maintaining remaining crops had become near impossible.
“All our fertiliser has been washed out of the soil.
“The knock-on effect is terrible and it will take a long time to recover.”
Muller estimated that about 40% of Patensie’s crops were affected, with some farmers losing entire fields and, in some cases, even the land itself, which was washed away.
“We just have to do everything we can to produce for next year,” he said.
“The banks will still want their money, so all we can hope for is some form of grace so that we can carry on.”
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