By Kouthar Sambo

Many of the City’s informal settlements have been affected by the heavy rain and gale force winds over the past few days, leaving homes flooded and damaged.

“Last week Tuesday we received the weather warning from the South African Weather Service, to look out for disruptive rainfall and gale force winds which have had an effect on some of the informal settlements in our city.” This is according to the City of Cape Town Disaster Risk Management spokesperson Charlotte Powell, who went on to cite the affected areas as being Khayelitsha, Dunoon, and Philipi.

“Most of the settlements are in natural water causes like wetlands and ponds, which is why residents living in that area will be flooded. At this stage there are no evacuations, deaths, or injuries that we can report – our South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and our Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) partners are helping with providing relief,” said Powell.

Additionally, the City’s Stormwater Department, explains Powell, is trying to unblock drains and provide the necessary relief in affected areas by virtue of duct cleaning machines and their urban mobility teams working tirelessly to unblock stormwater systems.

She further elaborated by saying that the winter readiness task team is on standby with a host of City departments that are trying to mitigate the risk of flooding. “But for informal settlements, it’s a bit challenging if people settle in low-lying areas and to remove them is difficult. And most times they settle in these areas during the summer period while paying little thought on how it would affect them during the winter,” says Powell who went on to say that low-lying areas will take up its “natural water course,” she added.

According to Powell, land availability is rather scarce, and relocating individuals can be challenging since Cape Town does not have the land capacity to host residents.  “Land availability is a challenge as we don’t have land, we can open up to relocate people along with the challenge of housing. “It is not only residents in informal settlements that are experiencing flooding, but also other urban areas are experiencing the same. Pockets in the Somerset West area have also been experiencing flooding which escalates the flood’s risk throughout Cape Town,” expressed Powell.

“If you need assistance from an emergency perspective, we would like you to call 480 77 00 and then for residents to report blocked drains, and unblocking of drains, 0800 6564 63,” added Powell.

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