News24.com | Sun City open for business after devastating storm
The Sun City Resort is open for business after a devastating storm wreaked havoc, causing flooding and damage to the popular holiday destination over the weekend.
A hail storm, which also lead to subsequent flash floods, hit the North West region of the Pilanesberg and surrounding areas around 16:30 on Saturday. It resulted in substantial damages to hotel rooms, vehicles and other buildings at Sun City.
News24 previously reported that day visitors were immediately evacuated and bused away from badly affected areas.
On Monday, Raul de Lima, group executive for Sun City, said the resort was reopened following mop-up operations.
READ: Sun City storm: It felt like a rolling ball of bad weather, says Capetonian about flash floods
“Over the last 48 hours we’ve managed to deal with the mop-up operation to get the resort back into a decent shape for visitation by both hotel guests and day visitors,” said de Lima.
“The Valley of the Waves and Sun Central restaurants, including the retail mode, is open for business and most of the facilities are up and running again.”
De Lima added that there are still some challenges that the resort faces following the storm, such as a shortage of hotel room inventory, particularly at the Soho Hotel at the casino where 100 rooms are out of commission.
A further 40 rooms are out of commission at The Cascades and ten at The Palace, De Lima said.
PICS: Massive storm batters Sun City Resort, guests evacuated, told to go home
“For the Vacation Club and The Cabanas we’ve managed to put rooms back into inventory and will be able to accommodate guests who have bookings, and who are arriving from today.”
“For the rest, the resort is back in fairly good shape.”
De Lima also commended the Sun City staff, service providers and some of their contractors for the effort that went into putting the resort back into a condition which is acceptable to visitors.
“For that we are very thankful. We would also like to thank all our guests and customers who have been understanding and sympathetic to what took place, given that it was a freak storm. For their indulgence and certainly their patience, we are very grateful and would like to thank them very much.”
De Lima said that while all systems are a go and that day visitors are encouraged to come to the resort, from a hotel perspective, all guests should still phone the resort to confirm that their booking is intact.