Sun brings relief to flooded Masiphumelele
Heavy rains swamp informal settlement
Today’s sunshine brought some relief to residents of Masiphumelele wetlands informal settlement which was flooded yesterday as heavy rains hit Cape Town.
Nombongo Mpahlwa has cemented the three-room shack where she stays with her three siblings, but her home in Section D was still inundated by the deluge.
She said she had spent “so much money” on cement but the whole house was flooded with water.
Clothes that were neatly folded in suitcases on the floor were sopping wet.
“I do not even know where to start. I cannot move anything outside because it is full of water and I am all alone; my siblings are at school and work. This is no way to live for anyone, but we are desperate,” said Mpahlwa.
Floods in Section D of MasiphumeleleWater did not leak through the roof,  but because the shack is in a wetland area, water rises up from the ground. For this reason, Mpahlwa’s neighbour had raised her shack when she built it, only to find that the wooden stairs up to the shack were washed away when she got home from work yesterday.
Dressed in gumboots and rain jackets, residents opened channels in front of their houses so that the water could flow away. Those with electricity switched on their heaters and stoves to try to dry out their houses.
Fezeka Gomo tries to remove the water from her flooded home. Fezeka Gomo was lucky that the crates she had put under the bed kept her mattress dry, but all her blankets were wet.
“I do not know how we are going to sleep today. I am worried; what if it rains the whole week? What are we going to do? I cannot hang the wet blankets outside, because it is raining. It will take days for them to dry.”
“Our furniture gets damaged by this water. My cupboards are falling apart, because every year it is the same story,” said Gomo.
Gomo and Mpahlwa welcomed the sunshine today. They said they had taken out all their belongings, hoping that the sun would dry their shacks.
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