Flood tragedy strikes Rehoboth family

TWO women drowned and by yesterday afternoon the search was still on for a boy after a river swept away a vehicle 50 km south of Rehoboth on Friday night.

The tragedy started when Cedric van Wyk’s Toyota bakkie stalled on a low bridge across a river south of the farm Kobos, on the road to Klein-Aub, at around 09h30. They were stranded in the river and the force of the water flow picked up tremendously.Van Wyk was able to swim out with his son, Giovanni van Wyk (10), but lost his mother, Fredrika ‘Meide’ van Wyk (60), and wife, Brigitte ‘Bayte’ van Wyk (33), who were still in the bakkie when the raging river swept it off the bridge.His daughter Genevieve (13) and the son of his brother-in-law, Hurney Jansen (14), were also swept away.The girl was found almost two hours later, clinging to a tree seven kilometres downstream.By yesterday afternoon around 50 people, on feet and horseback, and a Police search team with sniffer dogs were still searching for Hurney – a very good swimmer, according to his mother Helga Diergaardt.”What can we say?” wondered Gerald Cloete loudly.”It was Grandma Fredrika’s birthday on Monday and they were on their way to the farm to prepare for her birthday party.We should have gone through today for the celebration.Now we are searching for Hurney,” he said.Cloete was one of the first people to arrive on the spot when Cedric telephoned them after the accident.He told The Namibian that a group of tourists came upon the accident and that is how Cedric was able to make a call to Rehoboth.The tourists also helped to recover the two women’s bodies from the vehicle, which had rolled several times after it fell off the bridge.When The Namibian visited Rehoboth and the scene of the accident, Cedric Van Wyk had been in the veld for almost 20 hours, searching for Hurney.Relatives, friends and people from the surrounding farms were transporting food to the site for the search team.”The only thing we have found of Hurney so far is his shirt, one sock and underpants.I am full of hope that we will find him,” said his mother Helga.She was at the site the whole of Saturday and returned for the search early yesterday morning.The search team had covered up to 20 kilometres downstream but the continuous heavy rain was making it difficult for them.Nicky de Groot, father of Grade Nine student Hurney, had been searching until 03h00 and rejoined the group on Saturday morning.”I hope he is somewhere.He was a good swimmer,” he said, trying to fight back his tears.In one hand he had a cup of tea, his first for the day at around 16h00 on Saturday.Gerald Cloete said Cedric had risked his own life to rescue his son Giovanni from the river.After taking Giovanni to safety, he swam back and grabbed hold of Hurney but the current was too strong and the boy slipped from his hands.In the meantime, they could see Genevieve floating past them.Both youngsters landed against the fence and held on to it for a while before the floodwater ripped them away again.By then, the bakkie had rolled several times and landed on its roof, making it difficult for Fredrika and Brigitte to get out.When the tourists and others arrived and removed the bodies of the two women from the car, they walked along the riverbank in the dark, shouting the names of the two children.Genevieve responded from the other side of the river seven kilometres downstream, but they were unable to cross the river and had to go back to the bridge to cross over to her side.”She was clinging onto a tree stump when we found her.She was very brave holding onto it for almost two hours,” said Cloete.This is the second family to be swept away by a flooded river in Namibia this month.On February 11, three members of a Windhoek family – auditor Stefanie Harms (38) and her two daughters, Corinna (12) and Natascha (10) – drowned when they were swept away in a flash flood in the Gorrorosib River in the Naukluft Mountains.The children’s father, Thomas Harms, was the only member of the family to survive the ordeal.They were stranded in the river and the force of the water flow picked up tremendously.Van Wyk was able to swim out with his son, Giovanni van Wyk (10), but lost his mother, Fredrika ‘Meide’ van Wyk (60), and wife, Brigitte ‘Bayte’ van Wyk (33), who were still in the bakkie when the raging river swept it off the bridge.His daughter Genevieve (13) and the son of his brother-in-law, Hurney Jansen (14), were also swept away.The girl was found almost two hours later, clinging to a tree seven kilometres downstream.By yesterday afternoon around 50 people, on feet and horseback, and a Police search team with sniffer dogs were still searching for Hurney – a very good swimmer, according to his mother Helga Diergaardt.”What can we say?” wondered Gerald Cloete loudly.”It was Grandma Fredrika’s birthday on Monday and they were on their way to the farm to prepare for her birthday party.We should have gone through today for the celebration.Now we are searching for Hurney,” he said.Cloete was one of the first people to arrive on the spot when Cedric telephoned them after the accident.He told The Namibian that a group of tourists came upon the accident and that is how Cedric was able to make a call to Rehoboth.The tourists also helped to recover the two women’s bodies from the vehicle, which had rolled several times after it fell off the bridge.When The Namibian visited Rehoboth and the scene of the accident, Cedric Van Wyk had been in the veld for almost 20 hours, searching for Hurney.Relatives, friends and people from the surrounding farms were transporting food to the site for the search team.”The only thing we have found of Hurney so far is his shirt, one sock and underpants.I am full of hope that we will find him,” said his mother Helga.She was at the site the whole of Saturday and returned for the search early yesterday morning.The search team had covered up to 20 kilometres downstream but the continuous heavy rain was making it difficult for them.Nicky de Groot, father of Grade Nine student Hurney, had been searching until 03h00 and rejoined the group on Saturday morning.”I hope he is somewhere.He was a good swimmer,” he said, trying to fight back his tears.In one hand he had a cup of tea, his first for the day at around 16h00 on Saturday.Gerald Cloete said Cedric had risked his own life to rescue his son Giovanni from the river.After taking Giovanni to safety, he swam back and grabbed hold of Hurney but the current was too strong and the boy slipped from his hands.In the meantime, they could see Genevieve floating past them.Both youngsters landed against the fence and held on to it for a while before the floodwater ripped them away again.By then, the bakkie had rolled several times and landed on its roof, making it difficult for Fredrika and Brigitte to get out.When the tourists and others arrived and removed the bodies of the two women from the car, they walked along the riverbank in the dark, shouting the names of the two children.Genevieve responded from the other side of the river seven kilometres downstream, but they were unable to cross the river and had to go back to the bridge to cross over to her side.”She was clinging onto a tree stump when we found her.She was very brave holding onto it for almost two hours,” said Cloete.This is the second family to be swept away by a flooded river in Namibia this month.On February 11, three members of a Windhoek family – auditor Stefanie Harms (38) and her two daughters, Corinna (12) and Natascha (10) – drowned when they were swept away in a flash flood in the Gorrorosib River in the Naukluft Mountains.The children’s father, Thomas Harms, was the only member of the family to survive the ordeal.