Disaster teams’ hands full with Cape storm havoc
Cape Town - Infrastructure damage to homes, roads, power supply and schools amid more disruptive rain expected today has kept disaster management services on high alert.
The Level 8 storm that hit the province Wednesday night battered several neighbourhoods, with residential roofs blown off in Wynberg, and at least 10 000 households impacted by power cuts.
Since the start of the inclement weather last week, 217 schools reporting damage to infrastructure.
The Western Cape Transport Infrastructure Damage Report showed that at least 100 roads had to be closed on Thursday due to safety concerns, including the Borcherds Quarry outbound off-ramp, Bainskloof Pass and Franschhoek Pass.
The City said teams were working around the clock to attend to hundreds of electricity service requests, including area faults in Lakeside, Rondebosch, Plattekloof, Woodstock, Fish Hoek, Constantia, Bishopscourt, Plumstead, Athlone, Pinelands and Newlands.
Wynberg ward councillor Carmen Siebritz said at least eight households of 10-20 people, including minors, were hardest affected by the storm and strong winds in Wynberg East yesterday.
“Between Plumstead and Wynberg, there were at least 40 streets reporting power outages, fallen trees covering streets and blocking entrances and exits, an average of 22 flooded streets, which in some instances resulted in flooded homes too,” Siebritz said.
Speculation online was that a tornado had ripped through Wynberg, resulting in the destruction to roofs.
The Cape Town Weather Office, however, said that it was unlikely that it was a tornado or even a landspout.
“There is no meteorological evidence that suggests this is possible. The damage most likely occurred from strong straight-line winds,” it said.
Wynberg resident Mansour Wyngaard, 59, said the damage occurred around midnight yesterday.
“I have lived here all my life and this is the first time something like this happened to us in the 59 years that I’ve been living here. This is a disaster!”
All the rooms in his two-bedroomed home had been affected.
Wyngaardt said that the entire ceiling had to be removed, replaced and repainted.
He managed to get a mere two hours sleep yesterday. However, he was troubled throughout he night at the thought of how much needed to be done.
“My wife was the only one at home and she phoned me to say I had to come home because the ceiling was sagging. So I assumed it was only the ceiling, but when I came home, I saw what had happened.
“The roof and those of my two neighbours were also affected. But luckily no one got injured. We just lost quite a lot of stuff.”
Neighbours and relatives had rushed to assist the family to remove all their belongings from inside the house.
“It’s going to take a while for us to recover because of all the loss. Unfortunately, I'm not insured. I bought the house about two months ago from my sisters. My daughter and I were going to go to the lawyers next week to sort everything out, but unfortunately, it happened before that time,” Wyngaard said.
Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, Deputy Minister Tandi Mahambehlala and Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, visited Khayelitsha yesterday to assess emergency interventions and the City’s response.
Nikiwe Swartbooi, 26, from Nkandla, Khayelitsha, had sought shelter at a church opposite her home after winds had completely lifted and taken apart her home on Friday.
“The storm took my house on Friday night. We were inside. I was scared because I have a baby,” she said.
Inside the home, Swartbooi lived with children ages 14, 8, and the month-old baby.
The church is also made of corrugated iron with its resistance to the weather at risk as her home had been.
While heavy rainfall had stopped for a few hours yesterday, at the home of Sonetta Kupido, 59, in Khayelitsha, efforts were still underway to get rid of water which had collected inside her shack.
“I’ have been staying here for 35 years now. It’s very bad. I must ask children to come help me here. It’s very stressful and the doctor said I musn’t stress because of my diabetes and high blood pressure and I’ve got arthritis all over my body. It’s very cold.”
Kubayi said there were over 800 informal settlements identified as category C or in danger in the City alone.
“The teams between province and local were saying that there are quite a number of land parcels that we do not have access to, so we’ll go back and look at what we can do.
“We’re told there’s a land parcel closer to the airport that is privately owned that we can go and approach. The City has been trying to sell that land, which can actually solve a huge number of the challenges we have.
“So it’s work that we’ve got to do. I’ll go back to the Minister of Finance, so that we are also proactive. Because I know he is agitated by us always spending money in response to the disasters. He’s been saying, ‘can you be proactive and prevent these disasters or prevent people from drowning, especially in informal settlements that you know are likely to be affected’.”
She said they would be returning in two weeks’ time to the councillors of affected communities with a plan of action.
Project manager for disaster relief organisation Gift of the Givers, Ali Sablay said: "In Mbekweni, Drommedaris, Paarl, there is complete devastation.
“Some sewerage was flowing into the informal settlement as well. Unfortunately, if you look at the number of people affected, there’s not enough accommodation for them. There are not enough community halls to accommodate them," Sablay said.
Hill-Lewis said he raised with the minister that there was no need for five military bases in Cape Town.
Speaking to the Cape Argus on this, he said: “They should be given over to Human Settlements or to the City to use for housing. Five enormous pieces of military land, all unnecessary. They are not used by the military.
“There’s a few people stationed there, maybe a few vehicles stored there, otherwise it’s basically quiet, derelict and abandoned. That's the kind of parcels of land that we need to make a real difference. Otherwise we’re talking about tiny parcels, here, there and everywhere.”
Education MEC David Maynier announced the decision to reopen schools in the Cape Town, West Coast and Eden and Central Karoo districts, while schools in the Cape Winelands and Overberg districts would be closed today.
“(Some) 217 schools across the province have now reported some form of damage to school infrastructure or disruption. Last night’s heavy rains and strong winds unfortunately contributed towards this figure; 86 cases are regarded as serious and require our attention. Our infrastructure teams are addressing these cases as fast as possible. I am grateful for their continued commitment in these adverse conditions,” Maynier said.
The SA Weather Service has issued a yellow level 2 warning for damaging winds today and a yellow level 4 warning for disruptive rain until tomorrow.
Premier Alan Winde said that the Western Cape’s Provincial Disaster Management Centre continued to co-ordinate multi-disciplinary responses.
“Daily Joint Operations Centre meetings will be held until this inclement weather has passed us. I urge all residents to remain safe and not take unnecessary risks. All stakeholders – disaster management teams, law enforcement agencies, NGOs, and faith-based groups – have been working incredibly hard under terrible conditions to keep residents out of harm’s way. I cannot thank you enough. We have all shown how we can come together during disasters to help one another. This is the Western Cape that I am so very proud of,” said Winde.
shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za