By Buziwe Nocuze
- Nomabhaso Veli, 50, fled her flooded shack in Khayelitsha after heavy rain and gale-force winds hit Cape Town this week for the second time in a row.
- Three people have died and over 41,000 have been displaced across 26 informal areas as the Western Cape declares the storms a disaster.
Nomabhaso Veli has nowhere to go.
The 50-year-old grandmother fled her shack in Ndlovini informal settlement in Khayelitsha after floodwater swamped everything inside. She is now crammed into someone else’s space with her three grandchildren, hoping her belongings survive the night.
“My shack has water all over the place and I couldn’t take anything out,” she said.
Leaving is not simple. Criminals circle flooded areas and strip unattended shacks bare.
“We are concerned about our shacks because criminals use this time to steal our belongings,” Veli said.
“We find places to sleep for those who are staying in RDP houses and close to our shacks so that we can go and check if our belongings are still there.”
In Gugulethu, Busiswa Tukulula has packed her children and husband into her sister’s home after her shack in Europe informal settlement went under. She is exhausted but not surprised.
This happens every year.
“If we had any other places to go we would have left a long time ago because our belongings get damaged every time during heavy rains,” she said.
Ward 99 councillor Lonwabo Mqina says residents are staying away from community halls and sleeping near their homes instead, watching over what little they have left.
The numbers tell the full scale of the crisis. City of Cape Town Disaster Risk Management spokesperson Charlotte Powel says 10,703 structures have been damaged across 26 informal areas, pushing approximately 41,635 people out of their homes.
Three people are dead. The Western Cape government says they were killed by falling trees and drowned trying to cross flooded rivers.
Acting Premier Ivan Meyer has declared a disaster. Gale-force winds gusting above 100km/h have torn through the Overberg, Cape Winelands, Garden Route, West Coast and City of Cape Town. The province is still on its knees from last week’s Category 8 storm.
Meals and blankets are reaching some affected areas. Power crews are clearing trees and restoring electricity. Rescue operations for communities cut off last week will resume when the weather lifts.
Pictured above: Residents in Cape Town’s informal settlements have been forced from their homes after heavy rain and gale-force winds battered the Western Cape this week.
Image source: Supplied
