Parking management operations resumed in Hermanus CBD on Thursday morning, 21 May 2019, after a few weeks of free parking.

Typically, the parking tariffs are R1 for 15 minutes, R2 for 30 minutes (or part thereof) and R4 per hour on Mondays to Fridays between the hours of 08:30 and 16:00. On Saturdays they work from 08:30 – 13:00. Parking will be free of charge on Sundays and public holidays.

The parking attendants are dressed in black, wear yellow safety bibs and all have electronic machines that print a slip depicting the time spent and paid for.

In the evenings and on Sundays/public holidays when there are no parking attendants, fees do not apply. You do not have to pay local car guards (dressed in green, orange or yellow fluorescent safety vests) but can tip them for the time spent watching your car.

- Don’t be alarmed. This is just a drill -

Overstrand Protection Services, Western Emergency Medical Service and SOFCA will be hosting a full-scale emergency exercise tomorrow morning (23 May 2019) from 09:30 in Hermanus.

The exercise is meant to test the preparedness of SOFCA Old Age Home and local emergency services by means of an emergency evacuation exercise.

The exercise will simulate a fire in one of the residential rooms; the staff will start to evacuate the facility and activate the local emergency services.

Take note, the residents will not be part of the Major Incident Medical Management and Support (MIMMS) exercise.

The Overstrand Municipality will be drilling two new boreholes to expand its groundwater capabilities, in order to meet growing demand for water in the town.

If all goes according to plan, drilling is scheduled to start next week.

These boreholes are on municipal land, within the vicinity of Mountain Drive, across the R43 from the Gateway Shopping Centre (Borehole no. GWP 16), and ± 100 meters North of the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witness (borehole no. GWP 17)

The boreholes will be drilled to a depth of approximately 300 meters and are designed to target the deeper Peninsula Formation aquifer and will therefore not affect the shallower aquifers from which most households abstract their groundwater.

Stanford Spar in Queen Victoria Street, Stanford, was burnt down completely in the early hours of Monday, 20 May 2019.

The cause of the fire is still being investigated.

According to Overstrand Fire Chief, Lester Smith, the Overstrand Fire Department responded to a call received at approximately 04:00 of a fire occurring at the Stanford Spar. The on-duty member as well as the Senior Standby Officer was immediately informed and dispatched to the area concerned. Due to the nature of the call, Gansbaai and Hermanus Fire Stations were activated and deployed to the scene.

The first arriving vehicle, a light duty vehicle, arrived on scene at approximately 04:14 and found Stanford Spar well-alight. Due to the limited equipment on the vehicle, the on duty member requested major pumpers and water tankers from Hermanus and Gansbaai.