While many were celebrating Youth Day yesterday, wheelchair-bound Fanisa Qaka was stuck in her flooded shack.
Qaka, 38, and hundreds of families in the Zola informal settlement in Khayelitsha, near Cape Town, spent most of the day trying to salvage their belongings and keep dry in their flooded homes.
In some homes where the water was knee-deep, residents sat on empty beer crates waiting for help.
The city's disaster management team offered to move the stranded residents into a nearby hall, but they could not move immediately because it had been booked for a Youth Day function.
"We have been frantically scooping the water out of our homes since Wednesday," said Qaka. "Now we're coughing and have caught flu.
"The whole house is damp, cupboards are filled with water and even our shoes are wet. There are four small children in this house, including my sister's two-month-old baby. We can't celebrate Youth Day; we're celebrating water."
Together with 3000 other families in the settlement, Qaka had to weather several incidents caused by heavy rains, winds and chilly weather in the Cape Peninsula.
Charlotte Powell, spokesman for the city's Disaster Risk Management, said there were 20 flooding hot spots around the city. The worst affected were those living on the Cape Flats because of "limited run-off" or drainage.
"The weather service predicted an 80% chance of rainfall between Wednesday and Thursday, gale force winds of up to 65km an hour, very cold conditions and rough seas as high as 4m and 6m."
She said a house was damaged by a mudslide in Hout Bay early yesterday. Flooding was reported in Philippi, Retreat and Strand and power lines were damaged by strong winds and lightning.
Powell said her department would provide blankets, shelter and food to affected families. She could not say, however, how many people would be evacuated from their homes.
Secretary of the street committee in the Zola settlement Luleka Mafenuka said: "Three thousand shacks have flooded. Everything is wet - clothes, blankets, beds. This happens every year."
- Timeslive
Qaka, 38, and hundreds of families in the Zola informal settlement in Khayelitsha, near Cape Town, spent most of the day trying to salvage their belongings and keep dry in their flooded homes.
In some homes where the water was knee-deep, residents sat on empty beer crates waiting for help.
The city's disaster management team offered to move the stranded residents into a nearby hall, but they could not move immediately because it had been booked for a Youth Day function.
"We have been frantically scooping the water out of our homes since Wednesday," said Qaka. "Now we're coughing and have caught flu.
"The whole house is damp, cupboards are filled with water and even our shoes are wet. There are four small children in this house, including my sister's two-month-old baby. We can't celebrate Youth Day; we're celebrating water."
Together with 3000 other families in the settlement, Qaka had to weather several incidents caused by heavy rains, winds and chilly weather in the Cape Peninsula.
Charlotte Powell, spokesman for the city's Disaster Risk Management, said there were 20 flooding hot spots around the city. The worst affected were those living on the Cape Flats because of "limited run-off" or drainage.
"The weather service predicted an 80% chance of rainfall between Wednesday and Thursday, gale force winds of up to 65km an hour, very cold conditions and rough seas as high as 4m and 6m."
She said a house was damaged by a mudslide in Hout Bay early yesterday. Flooding was reported in Philippi, Retreat and Strand and power lines were damaged by strong winds and lightning.
Powell said her department would provide blankets, shelter and food to affected families. She could not say, however, how many people would be evacuated from their homes.
Secretary of the street committee in the Zola settlement Luleka Mafenuka said: "Three thousand shacks have flooded. Everything is wet - clothes, blankets, beds. This happens every year."
- Timeslive
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