Cape Town - Instead of waiting for the City to fix roofs torn off in a freak storm on Friday, local contractors and artisans in Hanover Park brought their skills to bear.
Disaster relief organisation Gift of the Givers (GOTG) project manager Ali Sablay said that at about 7am, the organisation received hundreds of calls from Hanover Park residents informing it of a “tornado”.
“We don’t blame the community for thinking it was a tornado because they’ve experienced strong winds before. It’s the first time something of this nature occurred. But, as we know, it was a landspout. Many of the people’s roofs got blown away, and with the wind there was strong rain coming down so they lost many of their belongings. GOTG teams were immediately on the scene.”
Sablay said the organisation was on the ground assisting families with plastic roof sheeting, blankets, mattresses, and hot meals.
Families will also be provided with non-perishable food hampers, he said.
Resident, Community Policing Forum member and contractor, Nasief Tape, said he arrived after 9am. At the time, emergency services were at the scene. He said that when he heard the people’s cries, he told himself they needed, as contractors from the local community, to do something.
Assessments started on Friday with Proactive Construction and LACPM Contruction. Most of those affected were pensioners and struggling families, Tape said.
By Saturday morning, there had been no sign of any contractors, the City, or the City’s Disaster Relief, except for law enforcement, he said.
Several organisations had also come on board to provide further assistance.
They were still working on it, Tape said. Safety and security Mayco member JP Smith said the gale-force winds affected properties in Athry Walk and Phillians Walk in Hanover Park, resulting in roofs blown off and damage to properties.
He said 20 formal houses and 10 backyard dwellings were damaged.
“Damages to these properties were mostly the result of debris from the roofs blown off from surrounding properties. No injuries or deaths were reported,” Smith said.
Some properties are council rental units, others private properties, which limited the City’s ability to make repairs, he said.
Emergency Sheltering shelter has been offered at the AME Church in Hanover Park.
Reports of roofs blown off from properties in Wolwerivier in the Cape Farms and Mamre areas were also received. Forty-two structures in Wolwerivier were damaged, three were destroyed, and 81 people were affected.
Affected resident in a household of seven, Moekmina Sampson, said: “I wasn’t at home. I just got to work, and then my son dropped me and he left, and after a few minutes, he phoned me and said I should go home. I asked why, and he said the roof blew off. He said he was also on his way, turning back from work, so he came to fetch me and we came home.”
She said aluminium sheeting was placed on top of the home but it remains “unliveable”.
“We are still in the house but everybody is sleeping downstairs,” Sampson said.
When asked whether the ward councillor had rendered sufficient support, Sampson said: “I don't think so. He is just coming to tell us the City can’t do it, it must go to the mayor. It is a long story to cover his back.”