A gale has battered the rain-ravaged Cape West Coast and destroyed 59 homes, most of them low-cost RDP houses.
Onel de Beer, executive mayor of Saldanha Bay, said the 59 families were moved from the Witteklip area to community halls.
He saw the clouds darkening early on Tuesday evening and heard a loud noise and saw what looked like "a mini tornado" sweep over Witteklip.
He went to the scene soon afterwards and found the damage was more serious than he had feared. Some homes had collapsed.
"It's so bad that some people can't stay in their houses."
A pregnant woman and a child were slightly injured. They received attention and were "fine", said Japie Julies, head of protection services and disaster management.
The municipality provided the families with food, blankets and clothes on Wednesday.
The municipality hoped to repair most of the homes before the weekend as the weather was too cold for the families to endure a long stay in community halls, De Beer said.
He said emergency disaster funds would be used.
Julies said the families wanted to return to their homes because they were afraid they would be vandalised and looted.
Visible policing would be increased in the area, Julies said.
He had visited the area on Wednesday morning with De Beer.
"We went to the area to sympathise with residents and to see how we could assist them."
Social workers also spoke to the families on Wednesday morning to find out what help they needed.
A mobile disaster management unit had been moved to the area late on Wednesday afternoon to make it easier for the people affected to find assistance and information, Julies said.
It had yet to be determined whether any of the homes needed to be demolished, he said.
Ulrich Ukena, 28, and his son Shogun, five, were watching TV when part of their roof blew off.
Ukena has closed off the damaged section of his home and he and his family were now living in the bedroom.
People in Witteklip seemed in good spirits as they worked in the sunshine, repairing their roofs on Wednesday. They said they wanted to repair their roofs as soon as they could as more rain and cold weather were expected.
Municipal teams were out on the streets clearing broken glass, sheets of corrugated roofing and other debris.
Stella Nake, a meteorologist with the South African Weather Service, said weather in the area was expected to be fine with no rain until Monday, when the next cold front was expected.
- Cape Times
Onel de Beer, executive mayor of Saldanha Bay, said the 59 families were moved from the Witteklip area to community halls.
He saw the clouds darkening early on Tuesday evening and heard a loud noise and saw what looked like "a mini tornado" sweep over Witteklip.
He went to the scene soon afterwards and found the damage was more serious than he had feared. Some homes had collapsed.
"It's so bad that some people can't stay in their houses."
A pregnant woman and a child were slightly injured. They received attention and were "fine", said Japie Julies, head of protection services and disaster management.
The municipality provided the families with food, blankets and clothes on Wednesday.
The municipality hoped to repair most of the homes before the weekend as the weather was too cold for the families to endure a long stay in community halls, De Beer said.
He said emergency disaster funds would be used.
Julies said the families wanted to return to their homes because they were afraid they would be vandalised and looted.
Visible policing would be increased in the area, Julies said.
He had visited the area on Wednesday morning with De Beer.
"We went to the area to sympathise with residents and to see how we could assist them."
Social workers also spoke to the families on Wednesday morning to find out what help they needed.
A mobile disaster management unit had been moved to the area late on Wednesday afternoon to make it easier for the people affected to find assistance and information, Julies said.
It had yet to be determined whether any of the homes needed to be demolished, he said.
Ulrich Ukena, 28, and his son Shogun, five, were watching TV when part of their roof blew off.
Ukena has closed off the damaged section of his home and he and his family were now living in the bedroom.
People in Witteklip seemed in good spirits as they worked in the sunshine, repairing their roofs on Wednesday. They said they wanted to repair their roofs as soon as they could as more rain and cold weather were expected.
Municipal teams were out on the streets clearing broken glass, sheets of corrugated roofing and other debris.
Stella Nake, a meteorologist with the South African Weather Service, said weather in the area was expected to be fine with no rain until Monday, when the next cold front was expected.
- Cape Times
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