Significant rainfall over parts of the Garden Route District and Little Karoo has lead to localised flooding on Saturday afternoon causing Meiringspoort to be closed. 

The pass is between Oudtshoorn and Beaufort West, where residents have been rationed to 10 litres of water a day due to the persisting drought. 

The closure of the pass is, according to the head of the Garden Route District Municipality’s Disaster Management Gerhard Otto, due to streams of water flowing down the pass after the torrential rains.

Motorists are advised to use alternative routes. 

The Oudtshoorn Municipality has assembled a joint operational team to attend to the aftermath of the heavy rains.

The municipality said in a statement on Saturday evening that it was attending to a number of complaints, which including flooded houses in Volmoed, Kliplokasie and the Rosevalley informal settlement. Roofs of houses were blown away by strong winds in Volmoed and an Eskom power pole and a tree blew away.

Heavy rain is also falling over the Garden Route.