Cape Town - Humanitarian outreach organisation Gift of the Givers was in De Doorns on Tuesday to assist with relief efforts after the area suffered extensive damage due to flooding.
Organisation spokesperson Ali Sablay said their teams received requests from various municipalities, disaster management centres and residents for urgent help after flooding ravaged De Doorns, Worcester, Paarl, Ceres and Gouda, among others.
“Gift of the Givers teams (have been on site) in De Doorns to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the flood-stricken communities. Fifty informal structures got completely washed away and damage was done to several hundreds of homes. Farmers’ losses (have run) in the millions,” Sablay said.
De Doorns fire chief Theuns Botha said they would be meeting on Tuesday.
“(We will meet) to try and get more or less the total affected persons, however, it is widespread and thousands of people are affected, people’s houses (were) also affected and widespread mopping up operations are taking place,” said Botha.
Residents in De Doorns have asked for any assistance during this time, as they tried to repair the damages.
Meanwhile, initial assessments in the metropole by the City of Cape Town showed no extensive damage.
Disaster Risk Management spokesperson Charlotte Powell said: “The City’s Disaster Risk Management Centre has not been alerted to any major impacts related to the adverse weather affecting large parts of the province. Our staff responded to Somerset West/Strand and Dunoon (on Monday), following reports of minor localised flooding. There was no damage to property or injuries reported,” said Powell.
Powell said they would be monitoring for any changes as the adverse weather warning was observed until Tuesday evening.
The public are reminded to report any emergencies to 107 from a landline or 021 480 7700 from a cellphone.
Cape Times