Rain causes cave-in at cathedral
Experts will determine whether asbestos which tumbled down after a section of the roof of St George’s Cathedral collapsed, poses a health risk
|||Cape Town -
Experts will determine on Monday whether asbestos which tumbled down after a section of the roof of St George’s Cathedral collapsed, posed a health risk. The fibres could be hazardous if inhaled or ingested.
No one was injured when a part of the cathedral’s ceiling caved in after the heavy rains earlier this week.
The Dean of the cathedral, Reverend Michael Weeder, said a roofing expert had said the collapse had been caused by water which had seeped through broken tiles and softened cement in the ceiling.
“On Friday when we found parts of the ceiling had collapsed, we immediately cordoned off the area.”
He said the cathedral - which had been closed since the incident - would be open for service on Sunday “because the water in the ceiling had dried”.
Weeder said on Monday an architect and roofing experts would further assess the damage, which is expected to cost millions to fix.
“You must remember the cathedral is a heritage site and is a very old building. Upon further inspection, we found the roof is in a far worse condition than we thought.”
Weeder said the National Lottery Board had come to the assistance of the church, a landmark in the city centre.
“We have R8 million, which will go towards fixing the roof. R7.5m of that money had been donated by the lottery.”
But the lottery funds are not enough to meet the cathedral’s needs as Weeder said an extra R4m would be needed to fully repair the ceiling.
The building suffered a major setback during winter last year.
Anglican archbishop of Cape Town Thabo Makgoba appealed for R20m in donations for repairs, fearing the cathedral would not make it through another winter.
The “Under One Roof” campaign was launched to buy the 40 000 tiles needed to fix the cathedral’s roof.
siyabonga.sesant@inl.co.za