Severe flooding prompts urgent response from Gift of the Givers
Image: Gift of The Givers/Supplied
Gift of the Givers (GoTG) teams extended their humanitarian aid distribution to over 20 000 flood victims in the Cape Metropole on Sunday.
The organisation said they were receiving calls from communities across the Cape Metro area due to the heavy impact of the cold front, resulting in floods and rain that impacted thousands of residents.
The Western Cape Disaster Management Centre on Sunday remained on high alert after the heavy storms have caused flooding in informal settlements.
The City's Disaster Management Centre (DRM) has also been tending to several informal settlements over the weekend.
On Saturday, they were assisting residents in Mfuleni, Gugulethu and Khayelitsha. The Vygieskraal canal had also burst its banks, which caused flooding on several roads in the Athlone/Belgravia area.
DRM said in the Vygieskraal Informal Settlement, approximately 500 structures were damaged, which affected 2000 residents.
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Gift of the Givers (GoTG) spokesperson Ali Sablay said their teams have been working around the clock to assist those affected by the current rainfall this weekend.
Image: Gift of the Givers/Supplied
Elsewhere approximately 200 structures in Haji Ebrahim Crescent were impacted, affecting 1000 persons, and 150 RDP homes, also in Vygieskraal, an estimated 750 people were affected.
By 1pm on Saturday, 112 structures were affected in Burundi, Mfuleni, which impacted 119 persons.
Other dwellings affected include 100 dwellings in Zola Informal Settlement and Oliver Tambo, 200 dwellings in Sweethome Farms, and approximately 200 dwellings each in The Ark, Khayelitsha and Island in Makhaza.
DRM spokesperson Charlotte Powell said: 'Teams are on the ground, working to determine the extent of damage and type of assistance required. Weather-related power outages were experienced in Langa, Athlone, Crawford and Rondebosch – the Energy Department is attending to outages.'
Sunday morning, Powell said Intertersite and Sanitizer informal settlements in Langa had 67 dwellings affected, which impacted 240 persons.
'In Masincedane, 20 dwellings have experienced impacts from the rain, affecting 80 persons and in Kampies, Strandfontein, officials counted 50 impacted dwellings, affecting 150 persons.'
GoTG spokesperson Ali Sablay said their teams have been working around the clock to assist those affected by the rainfall this weekend.
'GoTG teams distributed in excess of 10 000 hot meals on Saturday, along with blankets, beanies and other personal hygiene care item packs to various flood-affected informal settlements in the Western Cape.'
Sablay said their teams distributed these items in Khayelitsha, Langa, Gugulethu, Heideveld, Nyanga, Sir Lowry's Pass Village, Nomzamo, Lwandle and more.
'As the rains continue to pour down, our teams will be extending their humanitarian aid distribution to over 20 000 flood victims in the Cape Metropole today. The calls have been coming in since 3am, as our teams have witnessed first-hand the total destruction and devastation the flood victims are going through.
'Informal structures and formal homes are submerged in water. Residents have lost everything. Just last week, when they thought they could recover from the heavy rains, this week they are hit with worse floods.'
'GoTG teams will be on the ground for the next 3 to 5 days to assist those affected by the current floods. More areas are reaching out to us as they are facing total despair.
'Our teams will be reaching over 21 areas in the Cape Metropole to assist those currently affected by the severe flooding, and with more rainfall predicted during the day, we see the numbers increasing.'
Powell added that the City's Informal Settlements Management branch has been activated to assist affected residents, and they have also alerted the National Human Settlements Department to conduct assessments.
'The City's NGO partners will provide humanitarian relief, while the Roads and Infrastructure Management department has been requested to provide sand and milling,' Powell said.
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But they didn't get the money, and 'most of the funds went to communities impacted by Hurricane Harvey,' according to the county's Hazard Mitigation Action Plan. In an interview, Moser said the community took some steps to reduce flood dangers, installing flood gauges and barriers at low river crossings, spots where rural roads pass through what is normally a trickling stream. They also trained emergency management staff and other authorities on what to do in the event of a flood. But despite attempts to fund a larger flood warning system project in the county budget, Moser said, 'It never got across the goal line.' The efforts stalled by the time he retired in 2021. But the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, which partners with the county, made some progress this past year. They signed an agreement with a consulting firm to assess the county's needs, aiming to develop a monitoring and warning system depending on 'what we can afford,' said director Diane L. McMahon. The investment comes as the deaths in Texas are likely to galvanize a push for similar flood warning systems across the states and the country, Moser said. 'I think there will be a lot of attention paid to it now,' Moser said, adding that he doesn't know if any warning system will be able to protect everyone. But 'it could be a lot better than what we currently have.' Watching the death toll rise, Nicole Wilson wondered what might have happened if campers along the river had the kind of warnings she had growing up in tornado-prone Kentucky: loud, blaring sirens. After rushing to pick up her two daughters from another Central Texas camp, Wilson thought how just minutes could be life changing. She started a petition on Saturday, calling on officials to 'implement a modern outdoor early warning siren system.' 'Sometimes we only had five minutes,' she recalled of her childhood tornado warnings. 'Maybe those girls in the lower cabins would have come outside and seen the water,' she said. 'Maybe they could have grabbed others and ran to higher ground.'
