With the Western Cape currently being battered by strong winds, cold fronts, flooding and snow, the province and its people and animals are suffering and in need of help.
The bad weather is set to continue until the weekend at least, with the South African Weather Service issuing a Level 4 warning for damaging winds and heavy rains today, with a series of cold fronts still on track to make landfall until Friday.
The torrential rainfall and strong winds have led to animal shelters appealing for assistance to ensure the safety and comfort of distressed animals.
Cape of Good Hope SPCA Communications manager Belinda Abraham said the organisation was inundated with calls for help, with many animals also roaming the streets.
She says: “Wild animals are also being displaced too and we have had the unseasonal admission of a puff adder, stabbed with a hot poker while trying to flee a flooded error for safer, higher ground.
“We are in desperate need of blankets and dry and wet dog food.”
Donations can be dropped off PetShop Science stores.
Meanwhile, Gift of The Givers founder, Imtiaz Sooliman, said Western Cape Disaster Management, as well as multiple municipalities in the province, contacted the organisation on Friday to be on standby due to the orange Level 6-8 storm warning.
He says teams have hit the ground running, working around the clock and getting completely soaked as they respond to desperate calls from all over the Cape Metro.
Schools opening today will further jeopardise the education of thousands of students.
Dr Sooliman says hunger is the most pressing concern.
He adds: “Feeding upwards of 15 000 people, providing thousands of blankets, mattresses, meals, bottled water, items of warm clothing, diapers, sanitary pads, babycare packs and replacement of school uniforms and stationery is a mammoth and very expensive exercise requiring resources in the millions for effective, decisive intervention.”
Sooliman urged South Africans to contribute towards relief efforts through:
Gift of the Givers Standard Bank, Pietermaritzburg
Account number: 052137228
Reference: Storms.
Even the #CapeTown CBD was not spared yesterday. https://t.co/bDfd72qKoN
— Joel Guy Weather (@JoelGuyWeather) July 8, 2024
Meanwhile the City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Mobility, Councillor Rob Quintas, visited Ntulo Street in Site C Khayelitsha and Short Street in Cravenby, yesterday to assess the damages.
He said illegal dumping is not a “victimless crime” and cost taxpayers millions of rands as damaged infrastructure needs to be repaired.
“Our teams are working around the clock to clear more than 268 affected roads that were reported, with Khayelitsha being one of the severely impacted areas,” said Quintas.
“Dumped builders’ rubble, plastic packaging, animal carcasses etc. may disappear from sight, but they do not disappear, they have not been ‘disposed of’.”
dailyvoice@inl.co.za