'We lost everything': more cold fronts to wallop Cape of Storms

Penelope Mthyiane was left with little more than one of her grandchildren's school shoes after fierce winds tore off the roof of their four-bedroom Wendy house.

“It was so bad that after the metal fell on us, we had to look for one another as the roof blew away. We lost everything — the chest of drawers, wardrobe, everything. We only found a school shoe of one of my grandchildren, but all their school clothes are gone,” she said on Monday.

Mthyiane is one of thousands of people left homeless by thunderstorms, destructive winds, heavy rain and snow that has, since Thursday and particularly the weekend, caused widespread disruption and damage across the Western Cape. The SA Weather Service has warned a series of “significant cold fronts” are still on the way.

At least 4,000 people were left homeless and about 1,000 homes destroyed by storms at the weekend in Cape Town.

“Widespread disruptions and damage including loss of shelter in informal settlements, localised flooding, fallen trees, electricity outages and road closures due to snow or flooding, were reported,” said local government, environmental affairs and development planning MEC Anton Bredell.

“The City of Cape Town, Overberg, Cape winelands and west coast districts were hardest hit by the severe weather. As always, our focus remains on the safety of our residents and the humanitarian support that they need.”

The town of Ceres received 123mm, Elgin/Grabouw 84mm, Observatory 47mm and Stellenbosch 68mm of rain between Sunday and Monday.

Bredell said a series of cold fronts were expected to make landfall this week, with the next on Tuesday when between 10 and 20mm of rain is expected over the western parts, and between 40mm and 60mm over the southwestern mountains of the province.

“We are concerned about the rain-on-rain scenario, as saturated soil could lead to rockfalls, landslides and flash floods,” said Bredell.

Close to 1,000 structures were destroyed in Khayelitsha.

“There was a strong wind and then the house blew over on top of us while we were inside. We lost everything, we had to sleep outside because we do not have a place to stay,” said Mthyiane.

Eight grandchildren were inside at the time and had to be sent to stay with family in Harare while Mthyiane tries to rebuild one of the bedrooms in icy conditions.

Ward councillor Lonwabo Mqina said the Gift of the Givers had provided affected families with sanitary towels, food and blankets.

Mthyiane and her grandson, Qaqambile, were in the news 11 months ago when a violent eight-day-long taxi protest hit the city, leaving one of her grandchildren stranded and having to find his way home from school.

The SA Weather Service issued multiple alerts for more severe weather on Tuesday:

• An orange level 6 warning for disruptive rain leading to flooding and possible mudslides over Cape Town, Drakenstein and Stellenbosch municipalities.
• Yellow level 4 warning for disruptive rain leading to flooding and damage of roads and bridges over the West Coast, northern parts of the Cape winelands and western parts of the Overberg.
• Yellow level 2 warning for damaging winds resulting in damage to property, difficult driving conditions and communication and power interruptions over the Western and Central interior of the Eastern Cape.
• Yellow level 4 warning for damaging winds over the central and eastern parts of the Western Cape, the southern parts of Namakwa district municipality in the Northern Cape — resulting in damage to property, difficult driving conditions and communication and power interruptions, injuries due to flying debris.
• Yellow level 4 warning for damaging winds and waves between Port Edward and Durban and between Lamberts Bay and Cape Agulhas.
• Yellow level 6 warning for damaging winds and waves between Plettenberg Bay and Port Edward leading to disruption of small harbours and ports, risk to small and medium vessels of dragging anchors, danger to life from large waves along the coastal routes and coastal communities.
• Orange level 6 warning for damaging waves between Table Bay and Struisbaai.
• Yellow level 4 warning for damaging waves leading to difficulty in navigation at sea between Cape Agulhas and Plettenberg Bay.
• Yellow level 6 warning for storm surge leading flooding of low-lying coastal areas, and disruptions to beach front activities between Plettenberg Bay and East London and a yellow level 4 warning for storm surge leading to localised flooding of low-lying coastal areas, and disruptions to beach front activities between East London and Mazeppa Bay.

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