From upstairs window to lifeboat to safety — details of a Stanford rescue mission

When the storm waters flooded through Stanford, a small riverside village in the Western Cape’s Overberg district, 13 people, three dogs and a cat sat huddled in an upstairs apartment where they waited more than five hours to be rescued. 

Ruby Walne, her husband John and their cat Luna were fast asleep in the little flat on the public holiday morning when they were woken by loud knocking. Their home was situated above the garage of the home downstairs owned by their landlady, who had a family staying with her. 

“They were banging and calling us, saying that the house was being flooded. So we looked out the window and saw water that had risen above the level of the gate outside,” Walne told TimesLIVE Premium. 

“We ran downstairs in our pyjamas and saw that everyone was in a state of shock, so we started grabbing things to salvage and went charging up and down the stairs, grabbing food and water and whatever we could. We did that for about an hour, I think,” she said. 

As they did multiple trips, so the wooden floor boards of the house began lifting and floating around. Furniture turned into rafts and all manner of things began floating away, so they decided to retreat upstairs. 

Couch covers, towels, you name it — we hung red things from every window we could reach to signal that we were there. The children were so happy to see the boats, as they had been terrified and cried until they realised that we were going to be safe.

—  Ruby Walne

“At that point we thought of phoning the neighbours who live in a single storey house, and they came to the window. We could see them standing there in waist-deep water with their dogs and children.” 

Encouraged by the invitation to make their way across to the upstairs flat, the family of four managed to get out by breaking windows and burglar bars and swam across to safety. 

“Luckily the house we were in was built by a German architect, so we could open the window and get them in that way without smashing things,” Walne said. 

Huddled together, they sat and waited as lifeboats and rescuers outside went from house to house, helping flood victims in need. 

“Couch covers, towels, you name it — we hung red things from every window we could reach to signal that we were there. The children were so happy to see the boats, as they had been terrified and cried until they realised that we were going to be safe.” 

With a bag of clothes and their cat wrapped in blanket, Walne and her husband were able to climb down onto the roof of a car and then into a lifeboat that made “five or six trips” to rescue the stranded group. They were taken into the town where several restaurants were open and offering food and shelter to the bedraggled people whose homes had been flooded. 

“People have been amazing. Luckily we have friends in town who have a spare room and have offered to take us in with our cat. We’ve been given some dry, warm clothes and we’re sitting by a fire. I have no idea what we will be able to salvage, but right now we are safe. In time we will have to go back and assess the damage.”