The North West province has been rocked by severe thunderstorms, leading to significant infrastructure damage at the General Delarey Hospital in Lichtenburg. The hospital had to close its doors temporarily as torrential rains overwhelmed the facility’s drainage system, flooding wards and damaging the roof.
According to the North West Department of Health, all patients have been safely transferred to Mahikeng Provincial Hospital, Gelukspan, and Zeerust. The department’s spokesperson, Lucas Mothibedi, confirmed the alarming situation, indicating that the hospital’s drainage system was unable to cope with the deluge of rain. “We have instructed our maintenance clinic to deal with this issue and are also engaging the municipality,” Mothibedi stated. “The problem here is the stormwater system from their side. Our drainage system was overwhelmed due to the non-functioning of the flood water system of the municipality.”
The extent of the damage is still being assessed, with Mothibedi noting that “the cost of the damage at the facility is not yet known.” However, he reassured the public that a contractor has been appointed to address the repairs, and teams are already on-site evaluating the situation.
Interestingly, the closure of General Delarey Hospital follows another incident just a day prior, when the maternity ward at Moses Kotane in Ledig, outside Rustenburg, was also flooded. There, too, the drainage system had been overwhelmed. While Mothibedi heavily criticised the municipality for the poor drainage infrastructure, he acknowledged the pressing need for a long-term solution that would prevent such calamities from reoccurring.
“We have created our own drainage system, but it gets overwhelmed, particularly now that it is flooding because of debris clogging up our system,” he explained further. Mothibedi’s frustrations echo the sentiments of many residents who have long called for improvements in the municipality’s stormwater management.
The situation at General Delarey Hospital raises serious concerns about infrastructure resilience in the face of extreme weather events, and the community waits anxiously for actions to be taken that will provide lasting protection against future storms.