Cape Town battered by flooding as heavy rains persist, more downpours expected

• More rainfall is expected in parts of Cape Town on Tuesday.
• City of Cape Town teams are still out assessing and conducting mop-up operations following heavy rainfall over the weekend.
• Gift of the Givers has so far fed and provided care packs and blankets to more than 5 000 affected communities on Monday.

“The worst time of the year has arrived – and, once again, it’s us in the townships who suffer.”

This is what Dunoon resident Cynthia Alberts said after she woke up to yet another flooding nightmare – her belongings soaked, and dirty, debris-laden water spreading through her home.

Armed with a broom, Alberts spent Tuesday morning pushing muddy water out of her house, with her kitchen and bedroom the hardest hit. But it wasn’t just rainwater she was clearing.

“There were empty chip packets and cigarette butts flowing into my home when I woke up,” she told News24 on Tuesday, pausing briefly before continuing to sweep.

“I really hate this time of the year because our homes are so badly affected.”

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For Alberts, this is a cruel repeat of last year, when heavy downpours left her shack submerged. She is tired of starting over, again and again.

On Monday, the humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers stepped in, offering food, blankets, water, and even helping her to clean.

But in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Alberts was battling the rising water again, lifting what she could onto cupboards and tables and trying to protect her few possessions from the flood.

Gift of the Givers spokesperson Ali Sablay said on Tuesday morning that its teams would continue working in flooded areas, and had since branched out to informal settlements in Franschhoek, where calls for assistance had also been made.

A Dunoon resident emptying water out of his house.

Gift of the Givers/Supplied

“A lot of people’s food has been contaminated and destroyed, and homes are flooded. We are currently extending our services to other areas, which are extremely flooded,” said Sablay.

He added that on Monday, just over 5 000 people were given food, care packs and blankets.

“We anticipate that number to grow by today (Tuesday) as we move into more areas. The elderly people are also at the top of our priorities because we have seen many of them needing assistance in these flooded informal settlement areas,” Sablay said.

Meanwhile, the SA Weather Service (SAWS) said significant rainfall had been recorded across parts of the province in recent days.

Spokesperson Tokelo Chiloane said about 50mm of rain fell in the south-western parts of the Western Cape over the weekend – 63mm in Stellenbosch, 53mm in Ceres, and 49mm in Bellville.

Residents receiving care packs and hot meals from Gift of the Givers.

Gift of the Givers/Supplied

“We have no reports of dams overflowing, especially in the Western Cape. The Western Cape is a winter rainfall region, which means that it gets its rainfall from winter weather systems such as cold fronts,” said Chiloane, adding that two cold fronts moved through the province over the weekend.

She also confirmed a Yellow Level 2 warning for damaging waves and coastal winds along the entire Western Cape coastline for Tuesday.

“Since we are heading into the winter season where rainfall and veld fires coexist in the Western Cape, we advise the public to take note of flooded bridges, avoid driving over overflowing bridges, refrain from starting fires when the fire index is high, and avoid going to the beach when there are damaging winds or waves,” she said.

The City of Cape Town said its Urban Mobility Directorate, alongside Disaster Risk Management and various service departments, were working around the clock to respond to the impact of the heavy rainfall across the metro.

Approximately 480 flood-related complaints have been received since Friday.

Muddy, and wet conditions in Dunoon. The downpour of rain caused some homes to be flooded at the weekend.

Gift of the Givers/Supplied

“While teams are currently on the ground, it is still too early to provide final, verified figures on the total number of incidents or the full extent of the damage,” the city said late on Monday afternoon.

Widespread localised flooding was reported across both formal and informal areas, including Parkwood, Gugulethu, Khayelitsha, Delft, Ndabeni, Mitchells Plain, Southfield, Nyanga, Philippi, Elsies River, Kraaifontein and parts of Dunoon.

Urban Mobility MMC Roberto Quintas, who visited Parkwood and Dunoon on Monday, said teams were continuing mop-up operations.

“Water has, for the most part, drained out as it should, with the exception of areas where structures have been built illegally over bulk stormwater and sewerage infrastructure.

When this happens, our maintenance teams physically can’t access the systems to clear them,” he said on Tuesday.

Quintas added that teams had removed mattresses, wheelie bins and other items from stormwater systems.

“Obviously, this can create massive blockages. This notwithstanding, our teams are deployed to areas where flooding is reported, and this is happening throughout all eight districts across the metro,” he said.

He added that heavy rainfall caused water to back up in the stormwater system and onto roads, which then served as conduits for the water.

“The sheer volume of ongoing rainfall has caused quite a number of flooding incidents across Cape Town,” Quintas said.

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Meanwhile, Eskom, in a statement on Monday, confirmed that several areas remained without electricity owing to the adverse weather.

“The conditions have resulted in network faults and infrastructure damage in certain locations. Technical teams are on site working to assess the damage and restore supply as soon as it is safe to do so,” the power utility said.

Affected areas include Eerste River, parts of Khayelitsha, Klapmuts, Lynedoch, Malmesbury, Gouda, Saron in the Drakenstein, and surrounding areas, as well as Vissershok.

Eskom urged residents to treat all electrical infrastructure as live.

Western Cape local government MEC Anton Bredell on Tuesday morning said local flooding had since been reported to the various teams, which were being monitored.

He added that the rainy weather should hopefully clear up during the day.