Cape Town — It could cost upwards of R600-million to repair the damage in the flood-ravaged Southern Cape, according to the premier's office.

And as the holiday season approaches, road workers are already out in force to clear up rubble and debris.

All the roads in the area have already re-opened after last week's deluge.

However, the Cape Town weather office says more rain is expected on Monday.

Premier Ebrahim Rasool visited the area by helicopter on Saturday to survey the damage.

Shado Twala, the premier's spokesperson, said that although there were no official estimates of the extent of the damage, by Saturday afternoon, it was already thought to have exceeded R600-million, the cost of 2006 floods in the same area.

"Fortunately, we believe that most of that cost would be covered by individual insurance policies," she said.

Twala said Local Government and Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi would provide the provincial legislature with the official damage estimates on Wednesday.

Parts of Riversdale and Heidelberg were left under water late last week - and the flood chaos spread as far west as holiday towns Knysna and Plettenberg Bay.

More than 1 500 people had to be evacuated from the region and at least five people are believed to have been killed in accidents as a result of the floods.

Wheat farmers in the Overberg now face a difficult harvest, as fields are under water and their farm vehicles could not access their land.

Look Out Beach, a hotspot in Plettenberg Bay, was just about swept away by floodwater at the weekend.

Most of the beach's large car park and a section of the dunes disappeared as the mouth of the Keurbooms River shifted and the water swept the beach.

Forecaster Carlton Fillis expected about 20mm of rain to fall along the Garden Route today. The Lower Karoo region, including areas such as Oudtshoorn, would have even more rain.

"It will rain Monday, but not the same intensity seen over the past couple of days. But with the recent flooding in those areas, the falls will be significant," Fillis said.

Light showers were expected on Tuesday.

Tourism officials on Sunday described the scene in Plettenberg Bay as "complete chaos".

Two hotels, one in Plettenberg Bay and the other in Keurbooms were severely affected by the storms, a spokesperson of the office said.

Meanwhile, the Bitou council in Plettenberg Bay said flood repairs could cost the council millions of rands.

Council spokesperson Kenny Leluma said on Monday that roads and infrastructure had been severely damaged.

"We have already started repairs to our roads," Laluma said.

However, Bitou Municipality acting municipal manager Thomas Nqolo was optimistic about their mop-up efforts.

"We have intensive mop-up operations on our beaches and they are surprisingly full. The matriculants are out in their numbers for Plett Rage," he said.

Nqolo said that while they could not begin the clean-up as early as they hoped to because of further rainfall, the town "will be ready for a bumper festive season".

NSRI Plettenberg Bay station commander Ray Farnham said the mop-up was "going well" but that many people were helping out to speed up the process.