The heavy storms that lashed Cape Town last week affected 60 families who applied for and received relief aid and items through Thula Thula Hout Bay on Saturday June 10.
Some media reports suggested more than 300 homes were impacted by the storm, but these were not correct. Reports that more than
2 000 people had been displaced by the storm were also incorrect, as most of those relocated to various halls around Hout Bay were already residing in the temporary relocation areas (TRAs) established in the wake of the Imizamo Yethu fire in March, according to ward councillor Roberto Quintas.
Imizamo Yethu community leader Kenny Tokwe agreed that the ef-
fects of the storm were “not too
bad”.
“Most of those affected were in
the TRAs. There were also some people who had rebuilt shacks after the fire but these shacks had no defence against the wind. There were a few brick houses that lost tiles, but other than that, it wasn’t bad,” he said.
“A lot of people had been proactive before the storm, moving their goods to the halls before the storm came, and that’s why I think there wasn’t too much damage.”
Thula Thula’s Joanne Chemaly said it was the organisation’s first weather-related disaster relief effort, as before this it had only dealt with aid in the wake of fires.
“Some thought our efforts may not be necessary, believing that people in this situation only lose the structural integrity of their homes and not the content, but what became clear to us in this process is that many lost home contents too,” she said.
“A resident explained, ‘when your house is blown away by the wind, everything in the house is blown away, too’. After our first weather relief effort, we can confidently say that there is a requirement for this relief.
“We have had a successful distribu-
tion, adding much-needed items to families in incredibly difficult
times.”
