Weekend weather alert – Mom, kids forced to flee in dead of night ...

Weather warnings have been issued for this weekend for disruptive rain and damaging coastal and interior winds that will continue into next week. While the warnings are for this weekend, Cape Town residents have already reported damage due to rain on Thursday night. 

Western Cape authorities have said provincial disaster management and local authorities are on standby, ready to be activated. Anton Bredell, the Western Cape MEC for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, confirmed the weather warnings and said the Provincial Disaster Management Centre (PDMC) had been briefed by the South African Weather Service on approaching weather fronts. These include: 

A Level 4 for heavy rain and potential flooding over the western parts of the Western Cape on Sunday. A Level 6 warning for high winds of between 80 and 90km/h over the western and south-western parts of the Western Cape on Sunday. A level 4 warning for winds of between 50 and 70km/h for the Namakwa district as well as the central and eastern parts of the Western Cape. A Level 6 warning for waves between 6 and 8m along the coastline between Alexander Bay and Cape Agulhas from Sunday, spreading to Plettenberg Bay by the afternoon. A Level 4 warning for disruptive snowfall over the mountains of the Western Cape as well as the southern high ground of the Namakwa District on Sunday.

Thus far, damage has been reported in Cape Town. Just before 1pm, Powell said the Disaster Risk Management Centre confirmed 25 households in Tafelsig, Mitchells Plain were affected by strong gusts overnight. This affected 113 people in 20 formal dwellings and five backyard structures. 

Assessments in Khayelitsha were still being finalised. 

The centre’s head of Head of Awareness and Preparedness, Charlotte Powell, confirmed the City’s Roads and Informal Settlements Management departments were also conducting assessments in informal settlements in Dunoon, Strand, Khayelitsha, Belgravia, Overcome Heights and Gugulethu, following reports of flooding.

In Sir Lowry’s Pass Village near Somerset West, an assessment found that 80 informal structures had been affected by the rainfall overnight. The Disaster Operations Centre has also received reports of flooding of formal structures in Sea Point, Seawinds and Masiphumelele. In Kalk Bay, a house was damaged by a mudslide – the Roads Department is assisting with sandbags, and clearing debris.

Rain already affecting residents

On Thursday evening, some Cape Town residents experienced the inclement weather first hand – with heavy rain causing extensive damage. Humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers (GOTG) was called to assist in informal settlements, with the organisation’s Ali Sablay saying they were working in Khayelitsha, Monwabisi Park, New Monwabisi Park, Zamimpilo, New Culture, New Dawn and Kuyasa, Klapmuts and Phillipi on Friday. 

Daily Maverick accompanied them while the organisation was starting their distribution in Kraaifontein in Cape Town’s northern suburbs. An informal settlement called Die Vlakke had been hard hit by flooding. 

Gift of the Givers arrived there on Friday morning to hand out warm food and blankets. Deslin Schaffers complained that everything had got wet and cold. Schaffers, accompanied by her dog Trixie, took Daily Maverick around the area to affected homes. 

In Chanel Lakey’s home, it was cold as her laminated floorboards were soaked. In the 70-year-old woman’s bedroom, the roof was sunken and she complained about water dripping above her cupboard. 

Outside, GOTG arrived and residents slowly gathered. The crowd was organised in separate lines for women, children and men. The elderly were right in front. Two women dished food from two massive steaming pots as another man stacked maroon and blue fluffy blankets to hand out.

In the Cape Town CBD, Shannon Francis sat outside her shelter when Daily Maverick spoke to her. She is homeless and said: “It was so terrible, my place sank in… all my clothes are wet, everything, it was a lot. I have no blankets, no place to sleep tonight. No clothes, everything is soaking wet.” 

In an informal settlement in District Six, shack dwellers were mopping up as Thursday night’s rain caused damage to their shacks – including their beds, roofs and in some cases, their children’s schoolbooks. 

Bonita van Niekerk, one of the shack dwellers, told Daily Maverick: “Whatever old plastic we get or old material, we put it on the roof and try to keep the rain outside for the children to stay dry, but sometimes the water comes underground.” 

Rising waters

In Masakhane informal settlement in Lwandle, Strand, residents were desperately trying to  shield their homes from relentless flooding. With more heavy rain forecast for Sunday, the community is scrambling to protect themselves and their possessions from the rising waters.

Residents were filling their shacks with soil and rocks to elevate their floors above ground level, hoping to stave off the worst of the flooding. The scene is a mix of resilience and despair. Shacks, riskily perched on heaps of rubble and stones, standing next to others that have been locked and abandoned, their occupants having fled to seek refuge with relatives.

When Daily Maverick arrived, Mzikayise Sontshangase, a resident, was found taking out his soaked furniture. 

“We are not asking much from the municipality, just sand and rocks to prevent flooding,” he said. Reflecting on the past year’s damage, Sontshangase noted some improvement, “Compared to last year, I think the damage is not that bad. The canal which usually overflows was cleaned early, which I think prevented further damage. If we could get sand and rocks, that would really help us.”

Harrowing

For Nosipho Tom, a single mother of three, the latest flooding was a harrowing experience. She was forced to evacuate her children in the middle of the night, she recounts the terror as water surged into their home. 

“The water was coming in too fast and I feared that my kids would drown,” she said, visibly shaken. Now, like many others, she is adding soil to her home to create a barrier against future floods. “We use rubble from construction companies that they dump, but the truck drivers take chances and sell that to us,” Tom explained. “We do not have much of a choice but to purchase. What pains me is that in summer, the same truck drivers drive around with the rubble asking that we take it for free as they want to knock off early – the dumping site they use is a bit far.” 

Local councillor Xolani Diniso acknowledged the challenges and assured that efforts are being made to assist the affected families. “We are doing our best to provide families with roof plastics and nails as cover when it rains,” he said. However, with more rain on the horizon,  he said the need for more substantial and sustainable solutions is becoming increasingly urgent.

In June, Daily Maverick reported flooding in various parts of the Western Cape following a cut-off low-pressure system. This brought extensive damage in the form of road collapses, power outages, evacuations and rescues. DM

Additional Reporting by Lisakanya Venna and Siyabonga Goni 

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