Various organisations and individuals have come to the aid of some of the victims of this past weekend’s floods.
People had their belongings destroyed, including beds, furniture and food. Not even roads in Parklands were exempt from flooding on Saturday.
Nowethu Mzimba lives in Ekupholeni informal settlement in Dunoon. She says that she’s been there for almost a year now and she has been struggling during this lockdown and this weekend’s floods have made things worse.
“The lockdown really hurt us because I already had to stop travelling and going to work for months now. Luckily my boss had applied for UIF and I had a little bit of savings left over.
“But this weekend, it felt like we were being punished. I’ve managed to get the water out now but the water was almost up to my knees. I have a small child and I’m afraid she might get sick,” she said.
The City of Cape Town’s disaster risk management centre said they’ve experienced an increase in call volumes due to adverse weather conditions over the past weekend.
Malusi Booi, the mayoral committee member for human settlements, however, said the City’s informal settlements management department has issued more than 4 000 flood kits since June 1.
JP Smith, mayoral committee member for safety and security, said after this weekend’s floods disaster risk management was co-ordinating assistance to communities affected by the winter storms.
“Disaster risk management staff together with volunteers are also assisting with humanitarian relief by facilitating soup donations to vulnerable communities.
“This was made possible in partnership with the Woodstock Brewery Company and Blue Ribbon Bakery and we are grateful for their acts of caring and assistance,” he said.
Nicky Rheeder, councillor for Ward 107 (parts of Parklands, parts of Sunningdale, parts of Blouberg Rise and parts of Table View),said during this lockdown period she noticed there was a lot of need by residents of her ward and surrounding area – the need for food especially dire.
So in her personal capacity, along with DA proportional representative councillor for Sub-council 3, Christiana Groenewoud, started the Dunoon Project. The aim of the project is to provide food relief to those in need.
“We decided to partner with the Milnerton Lions Club because this is a big task and we needed help with all the donations we were getting from generous donors. The recent protests disrupted our operations for some time but we are continuing to help. Since April 15 we have given 63 560 meals and 2 270 food parcels,” said Ms Rheeder.
On the weekend, non-profit organisations like Broken Windows, Islamic Relief South Africa, and the Cape Flats Development Association came together and helped over 3 500 people of Dunoon with bread and soup.
If anyone would like to help the Milnerton Lions Club and Dunoon Project, they can contact Ms Rheeder on 072 729 4282 or email nicky.rheeder@capetown.gov.za