Evacuation orders issued in Citrusdal after level 8 weather warning

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Western Cape authorities say evacuation orders have been issued in Citrusdal. This follows a Level 8 weather warning for disruptive rainfall across the province on Thursday.

Over 15 000 people, mostly in informal settlements, have thus far been affected by the inclement weather.

Western Cape Disaster Management Head Colin Deiner says there have been a number of electricity disruptions.

“Eskom is also in our centre working with us and they have restored 6 000 clients in the last night and currently there are 11 000 faults across the province which are being prioritised for repair. 137 Schools have been impacted and 18 schools have been closed due to flooding. In the health sector, we have fortunately not had too many disruptions.”

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis shares more:

City attends to hundreds of electricity requests, area outages as work continues.

Residents are reminded to report electricity outages as soon as possible by using the City’s reporting service channels or a new WhatsApp number.

See: https://t.co/88NRYg3HGu#CTNews #Energy pic.twitter.com/KCtFsg7tMd

— City of Cape Town (@CityofCT) July 10, 2024

The inclement weather has caused misery for the homeless. Shelters in Cape Town have reported an increase in the number of people seeking help amid the stormy weather conditions.

Chief Executive for The Haven Night Shelter Shadrick Valayadum says, “For the last four or five days, we have had 44 homeless people coming to our shelters. We have cleared about 140 beds to receive the guys that are seeking refuge from the cold and the wet weather.”

One such is Joseph Williams who has been living on the streets for the past 15 years. Williams approached the shelter for help as the storm hit the City this week.

“It’s very, very hard. You don’t know where to hide, you know, because it rained everywhere. Some people are getting sick, like myself. I got TB on the street. I lost my one lung from TB from the cold. So, it’s very difficult. I heard that the shelter is helping so I’ve been to many shelters already but this time of the year, it’s very cold.”

Resident Dyantyi from Bloekombos in Kraaifontein says informal settlements have also borne the brunt.

“Inside our houses it’s wet. Our kids didn’t go to school. Mind you yesterday schools were open but kids couldn’t go to school and they probably won’t go the whole week. Everything is wet. the water is dirty, it’s smelling, there’s sewerage in the water. We are going to get sick, we are sick already. I’m just talking I don’t even know if there’s help that’s going to come.”

The education department says in the interests of learner and teacher safety, various public and special schools in the Cape Town Metro, Winelands, and Overberg districts will be closed on Thursday as a result of severe storm warnings for the Metro, Drakenstien and Stellenbosch municipalities.