A Kraaifontein mom had to rescue her baby after their shack was flooded during a storm on Tuesday night.
Ncediswa Nobhafu says they were fast asleep when the water came streaming into their shack.
She says she immediately checked on her one-year-old daughter Kuzokuhle and was shocked to discover her body was halfway in the rising water already.
Just like her neighbours in the Covid Town informal settlement in Bloekombos, the woman’s hokkie was left knee-deep in water.
“We went to bed early on Tuesday night and it was storming,” she says.
“I woke up a few hours later and noticed something shiny on the floor, the water was already on my child’s bed and she was wet.
“I just grabbed my child and I fled. If I didn’t wake up my baby would have drowned.”
Ncediswa says she ran through the rain to a nearby crèche where she left her child and returned to her shack to save what she could.
“My baby has a cold now. I am trying to get the water out of my house but it keeps raining,” she said on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Weltevreden Valley resident Gershon Lakay says when he woke up to find his Philippi home flooded as well.
He says: “On Monday the drains were overflowing but the water was not in the house and that evening it rained so hard, the water came into my house.
“On Tuesday morning as I got out of bed and put my feet on the floor, they sank into the water, and then I noticed some of the household stuff floating.”
In Ottery, Juanita Mitchell, 52, from Regent Court says the wind blew her roof off.
“It happened over the weekend and I have been waiting for the City to at least come and assess the house,” she says.
“They have not come out to see the damage and now we are living in a flat without the roof, and it is raining.”
Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security JP Smith says the City’s Disaster Risk Management Centre (DRMC) teams are busy with assessments along with the City’s Informal Settlement Management Department.
You can contact the Public Emergency Communication Centre on 107 from a landline or 021 480 7700 from a cellphone to report any emergencies related to the bad weather.