‘Mother of all storms’ lashing informal settlements in Cape Town
As a massive storm sweeps the Western Cape for the third time in a month, more localised flooding has seen residents of some of the province’s informal settlements left stranded from their homes and many have become displaced.
Western Cape provincial government announced on the morning of Friday 10 July that over 100mm of rainfall had rocked the province, with officials present at various sites assessing damage levelled by the storm and gearing up for another night of severe weather.
Severe storm wreaking havoc on Cape Town
Provincial government said that low lying informal settlements had been the worst affected by the heavy rains and gale force winds.
“Extremely heavy rainfall has led to localised flooding in several areas across the province overnight,” they said. “Various informal settlements, particularly ones in low-lying areas have been affected and officials are on site this morning making assessments of the situation. There have been no overnight injuries reported.”
They said that search operations are underway for two missing people in Cape Town, who they understand have become displaced as the severe weather battered the Khayelitsha informal settlement.
The Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Anton Bredell, said that conditions may remain difficult for the rest of the day as well as tomorrow [Saturday 11 July].
“Across the province roadways have been flooded and falling trees and other debris are causing challenges,” he said. “There has been storm damage caused by the strong winds in the Karoo and the Garden route as well as in the Cape Winelands.”
Disaster Risk Management spokesperson Charlotte Powell said that roadways have been affected by the heavy rains and winds, and said that power outages were already underway in addition to the warnings of load shedding on Friday announced by power supplier Eskom.
“Various informal settlements across the city have been affected by last night’s heavy rain. This morning the Disaster Risk Management officials will be making assessments in these informal settlements.”
“Uprooted trees in the Camps Bay area resulted in road closures at Kloof & Lower Kloof and Kloof & Nettleton Roads. A tree was also uprooted in the Atlantis Industrial area and damaged a vehicle.”
“Power outages are being experienced in Mitchell’s Plain, Claremont, Philippi, Lotus River and Retreat. Many roadways across the city have been flooded and Transport is clearing roadways.”
Load shedding set to compound misery in cold Cape
Adding to insult to injury, Bredell warned that with load shedding seemingly set to return on Friday, the challenges facing Disaster Risk Management teams has been compounded. He said that there are several factors that residents need to be aware of.
“The first is that Eskom is again cautioning that the system remains under severe pressure with a real likelihood of load shedding later today,” he said.
“In addition, while the current storm is expected to subside by Saturday, another storm is moving in and expected to make landfall by Sunday afternoon.”
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