Cape Town – The City of Cape Town fire and rescue team deployed to KZN to assist flood victims says the situation in the province is devastating.
The team of 10 members arrived in the province on Friday morning.
They were dispatched to help with three incidents in Portland Place, Durban North, as well as a mudslide and a person trapped in a crushed wendy house in Durban North, and a report of two teenage girls missing in a flooding river in a rural area outside Pietermaritzburg.
Team leader Frederik Munnik said: “We received a report about two incidents in Hillside where there’s three people reported to be missing. We plotted a course to drive there but we had to alter that course because the road had completely washed away.
“There is great devastation throughout the KZN province. There are many people that are affected, community members who’ve lost families and loved ones.
“The community as a whole suffers from lack of service delivery in a sense that all their supplies have washed away and gaining access to them to provide them with some sort of relief is a very difficult task,” he said.
The City of Cape Town has appealed to residents to donate essential items to the flood victims.
Donations can be dropped off at the Roeland Street fire station, Lakeside fire station as well as the fire stations in Strand, Goodwood and Bellville.
Gift of the Givers founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman said their teams were busy identifying areas of severe damage in KZN.
“Hot meals, blankets, bottled water, warm clothes, sanitary pads and diapers are the initial requirements for those in low-lying areas who have lost their material possessions. Food parcels, school uniforms and stationery will be provided where the need arises, building material will be considered as well as repairs to damaged school infrastructure,” he said.
Meanwhile, authorities in the Eastern Cape are on high alert after heavy downpours in Port St John’s displaced many families who had to be accommodated in community halls and recently built empty RDP houses in the municipality last week.
Cape Times