Knysna was reeling under a quadruple whammy of disaster on Friday: on top of devastating fires‚ it has limited water‚ electricity and telecommunications. Thousands of people remained displaced on Friday, as water bombing of the fires continued. "It was already one of the Western Cape towns most affected by the current province-wide water shortages — and supply has now been severely impacted by fire damage‚ and related power failures‚" local government and environment MEC Anton Bredell said. Urgent steps were being taken to restore essential services to the areas affected by this week’s storm and devastating fires‚ he said. Engineering teams would be attempting to power the water network with generators – including waste-water systems‚ to reduce the possibility of pollution. "People are requested to use water carefully and sparingly‚ to prolong the availability of water in the town‚" said Bredell. Eskom hoped to restore electricity to the local grid‚ but the municipal supply network ...

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