As Cape Town, South Africa, prepares for a week of destructive storms, officials and an aid organization reported that about 1,000 homes in informal settlements have been demolished by gale-force winds, forcing about 4,000 people to flee their homes.
According to South African weather officials, several cold fronts bringing heavy rain, wind, and flooding are predicted to affect Cape Town and the surrounding areas until at least Friday.
The disaster coordination team in Cape Town has been on high alert ever since the first front passed through last Thursday.
The impoverished, unofficial settlements surrounding South Africa’s second-largest metropolis are anticipated to be the most severely affected. In the township of Khayelitsha, on the outskirts of Cape Town, thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes after powerful winds damaged numerous houses.
Over the weekend, 3,000 blankets and 10,000 meals were given to displaced individuals in Khayelitsha by the local humanitarian group Gift of the Givers.
According to the City of Cape Town, there have been floods in other regions and power outages in over thirty suburbs due to the weather. It stated that, with more intense rain predicted this week, it is keeping an eye on dam levels to make sure they don’t overflow and would think about releasing some water under controlled conditions.
In the middle of the year, during Cape Town’s winter season, cold fronts from the Atlantic Ocean frequently hit the city. They are particularly harmful to the underprivileged informal settlements.