Disaster management authorities are in full swing with relief efforts after a weekend of heavy rains and icy weather conditions. 26 000 people have been badly affected by the wind storms and the generous amount of rain that was predicted by the South African Weather Services. Clean-up operations came into effect on Monday in order to get roads damaged by floods back to drive-worthy conditions.

“This weekend was quite terrible,” said Onele Lefie, the spokesperson for the City of Cape Town’s Disaster Risk Management

Relief aid has been issued to those affected in the form of blankets, food, clothing and baby packs. Areas that have been heavy affected are Khayelitsha, Strand, Philipi, Gugulethu, Nyanga and Masiphumele.

“Luckily things are starting to dry up and things are better than it was. Our city services are out doing engineering work,” Lefie added.

Most areas that have been affected badly are low-lying areas.

“Low-lying areas are prone to flooding. We are not only dealing with that, but we are also dealing with the water cable that is quite high. A few drops of rain floods the people,” said Lefie.

The City of Cape Town advises those residing in the low-lying areas to take note of the warnings and alerts from the South African Weather Services.

“We advise the people to make use of the community halls that are available. They are ready to be used as accommodation. VOC (Shanaaz Abrahams)