The City of Cape Town continues to issue flood kits to reduce the impact of flooding caused by heavy rains as experienced across the metro in the past few days and weeks. These kits are distributed across the metro but especially in more vulnerable areas such as informal settlements where residents have often settled in flood-prone areas or wetlands.
Since 1 June 2020, the City’s Informal Settlements Management Department has issued 6 898 flood kits. It is expected to deliver additional kits over the next few days.
Various City departments including Informal Settlements Management, Roads and Stormwater, and Disaster Risk Management do their utmost to help residents by helping with emergency materials such as flood kits and plastic sheeting, constructing canals to lead flood water away from affected areas where possible, and monitoring high risk priority areas on a daily basis to determine flooding risks while giving advice to residents on how to reduce this.
‘We’ll be close to having issued 8 000 kits in this week. Informality in accommodation is a common occurrence in Cape Town, and cities across South Africa, and is brought on by increased urbanisation. The associated intense demand for accommodation brings about a number of specific challenges, such as unplanned settlements that are located on flood-prone, lower lying areas or in wetlands or retention ponds. The high densities without dedicated emergency access ways also make it difficult to deliver basic and emergency services in times of fire and floods. Often the settlements are formed on private land or land where services cannot or may not be delivered. The City does what it can to deliver housing opportunities, upgrade informal settlements and prepare for flooding and other natural disasters, with partnerships being key.
‘The provision of services is especially difficult this year because of the COVID-19 crisis with the risks of virus spread and City staff thin on the ground attending to all manner of service requests. Work continues and City teams worked non-stop over the weekend to assist residents, but we ask our residents and communities to help us by implementing some no cost tips to reduce the risk of flooding, such as reporting blocked drains and clearing gutters. Residents are also encouraged to make their own sandbags and dig furrows around their dwellings as a DIY drainage system. These are just some of the ideas which our residents can use to empower themselves to protect against the risk of flooding,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Malusi Booi.
Help to reduce flood risk:
- Clear out drainage systems on properties
- Raise the floor level of a structure so that it is higher than the natural ground level
- Make sandbags with a long-sleeved top filled with sand
- Dig trenches around the house to divert water away from the house
- Report blocked drains, intakes and illegal dumping – illegal dumping in the stormwater canals and sewers make flooding worst
- Waterproof roofs, clear gutters and remove dead tree branches
- The risk of fires during winter especially is also huge. Never leave an open flame unattended.
Emergencies can be reported to the City’s Public Emergency Communication Centre by dialing 107 from a landline or 021 480 7700 from a cellphone.