City encourages expedited burials amid severe weather warning
25 July 2024
The warning for disruptive rainfall this weekend coincides with one of the busiest days of the week for City cemeteries. With the soil already saturated, it will not take a lot of rain for flooding to occur.
During the last severe weather spell earlier this month, the City's Recreation and Parks Department facilitated 117 burials on the Saturday.
While the City has advocated for more weekday burials, Saturdays remain the most popular days for a number of reasons.
'Our cemeteries are incredibly busy on weekends, and this coming weekend will be no different. Our teams are on hand to ensure that operations proceed as smoothly as possible under the circumstances, but if the forecast holds, there will likely be an impact. Cape Town has experienced a lot of rainfall this month, so the soil remains very saturated. As we've indicated before, this could affect grave depths or reopening of existing graves for second burials, resulting in delays or even force the use of an alternate grave. I also want to call on funeralgoers to please try and expedite burials, so that we can manage traffic in and out of the cemeteries, but also limit people's exposure to conditions underfoot,' said Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health, Councillor Patricia Van der Ross.
The public is reminded of the following when visiting cemeteries during periods of inclement weather:
- Roads, pathways and parking lots could be flooded, or slippery, so be cautious.
- Wear suitable weatherproof clothing and waterproof non-slip shoes to avoid slipping and puddles.
- Arrive timeously at the burial and do not exceed the 30-minute timeslot so as to alleviate parking congestion.
- Consider a smaller number of people attending burials, particularly during episodes of inclement weather.
- Exercise caution when carrying coffins and avoid standing too close to open graves.
- Undertakers to exercise caution with Gazebos in windy conditions.
End
Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
