Hester McNeil hunched dispiritedly among her wet belongings on Tuesday as she recounted how the heavy rains and winds ravaged her shack over the long weekend.
The 52-year-old Goliath Estate informal settlement, Kraaifontein, resident was among the 6,000 Capetonians affected by the storms that swept across the Western Cape, claiming 11 lives. McNeil said she dreaded the sunset because her bedding was wet. Her food was also swept away.
“My place is very wet and the water comes up to my knees,” she said.
“That is a very big problem for me. I can’t stay in this place because it is very wet. When I make food in the kitchen, the electricity shocks me. I lost all my food in the flood and my TV. The bedding is also wet.”
It was the same for her neighbour, 35-year-old Rouxin Johannes who had to move from her house and take shelter with her children because her home was inhabitable.
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In Sir Lowry’s Pass Village, a couple of kilometres from Kraaifontein, Dorothy Adams — a pensioner — was in the same predicament and she bemoaned that this would not have happened had she been in a proper house and not a shack.
Adams told TimesLIVE Premium she had been on the housing waiting list for ages.
“I qualify for a house but I don’t know what happened because people younger than me got houses,” she said.
“They are already in houses. I think I will wait for another 20 years. I am going to live like this. I don’t know what to do because they give the houses to younger people. The elderly are still in shacks had continue to have these problems.”
Meanwhile, the death toll after the severe weather has climbed.
Cape Town councillor JP Smith, responsible for safety and security, said the first three casualties were reported after a strong crosswind flipped a Golden Arrow bus.
“Reports indicate that the bus had just pulled away after a passenger disembarked and while gathering speed, a strong crosswind overturned the bus,” Smith said.
“Sadly, three passengers succumbed to their injuries at the scene.”
A group of children were also among the fatalities.
“It was confirmed by SAPS that four children lost their lives in the Driftsands informal settlement after being electrocuted due to flooding and illegal electricity connections that had been made onto main supply feeds,” Smith said.
“Our thoughts go out to the families of the victims affected by the outcome of these severe weather conditions.”
Wilfred Solomons-Johannes, director of community services at the Theewaterskloof municipality, said three more people had died in the Overberg.
He said heavy rain and gale force winds had caused widespread destruction. Solomons-Johannes says one person died in Villiersdorp, another in Botriver and a third died on a farm in Vierboom.
“At first light this morning, the disaster response teams of the Theewaterskloof municipality resumed with recovery and emergency mop-up operations after the two days of major flooding and infrastructure damages. The cold front has now passed and brings much improved conditions for emergency response teams and engineering crews to accelerate recovery operations,” he said.
Gift of the Givers’ Imtiaz Sooliman said communities were in “dire need” after the floods.
Sooliman said “Gift of the Givers teams split into three divisions” on Monday “to respond to the huge deluge and flooding in the Western Cape, yet it was impossible to reach all communities simultaneously”.
“The affected areas are vast, affecting more than ten thousand people in various communities along the N1, N2 and R60. Access is a challenge with roads washed away, bridges unstable, rockfalls and uprooted trees. Botrivier, Caledon, Riviersonderend, Hermanus, De Doorns, Robertson, Ashton, Montague and Ladismith are all cut off. Formal houses are submerged, many informal settlements have been washed away, vehicles have been displaced and people’s material belongings have been destroyed,” he said.
“The needs are huge: these include sandbags, bottled water, hot meals, fortified foods, mattresses, blankets, new clothing, hygiene packs, sanitary pads and diapers, to be followed by building material, food parcels, stationery and uniforms.”
He asked for donations to help those affected. Western Cape MEC for environmental affairs Anton Bredell and premier Alan Winde took stock of the damage on Tuesday as the big mop-up began.
“Unprecedented rainfalls have been recorded, with the Overberg region receiving 142.6mm from September 24 to 26. Stellenbosch measured 194.2mm over the same period, and Molteno in Cape Town recorded 141.8mm, according to data supplied by the South African Weather Services,” said Bredell.
“The Overberg region has been hardest hit, with several roads still closed and towns such as Arniston and Struisbaai being cut off via road access. Many roads are still closed, and this is making support functions more complex. “We ask the public to remain patient in this regard.”
Winde said his government was “very appreciative of all the hard work the various disaster management, law enforcement, and emergency teams have been doing. Along with law enforcement agencies and NGOs, officials who reported for duty even during the storms and worked tirelessly throughout the long weekend to keep residents safe”.
Winde urged residents to “exercise extreme caution as the disaster response shifts to assessment of the extent of the damage and mop-up operations.
“I am devastated by the loss of life. My thoughts are with their families and loved ones,” he said.
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