This week, several neighbourhoods in Cape Town, South Africa, have been hit by destructive rains and winds that have killed one person and damaged thousands of homes, according to local authorities, who remain on alert for Friday. Some slums, including Khayelitsha, a large township in the coastal city, have been particularly hard hit, according to the city’s emergency operations centre.
“The water doesn’t come in from above, it comes in from below. I have to ask the children to help me empty the water from the house,” said Sonneta Kupido, a pensioner living in Khayelitsha. A man sleeping on the pavement beside a flooded road has died after falling into a canal on the outskirts of Cape Town, police said.
Several roads, including national roads, were submerged. Rising water levels at dams in the region remained a concern on Thursday. Nearly 7,000 homes and infrastructure in Cape Town have been damaged, affecting more than 8,000 people, according to the Western Cape province. The storms of recent days have damaged nearly 14,000 structures and affected more than 15,000 residents in the region, the source said.