“My death was in front of me” - aftermath of the Cape storm
Farm workers at Holland Farm in Rawsonville describe spending a night trapped on rooftops as floodwaters swept through their cottages, leaving three people dead
Jonathan Jansen and Sherita Alexander stand in front of their farm workers’ cottage on Holland Farm. The couple, along with other families, were forced to seek refuge on the roofs of their cottages to escape flood waters that claimed the lives of three people. Photos: David Harrison.
Families on Holland Farm in Rawsonville spent hours clinging to rooftops as floodwaters surged through their homes during the devastating storm that hit the Western Cape last week.
Three people drowned, while 23 others were rescued in a large-scale operation involving the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI).
NSRI crews from Kleinmond, Melkbosstrand, Mykonos, Yzerfontein and Cape Town joined emergency services in the rescue effort. Rescue teams used an inflatable craft, ladders and small flotation devices to evacuate stranded residents.
GroundUp visited some of the farm workers and their families on Friday.
“The whole night we sat there on the roof. I can’t explain it to you because it’s a nightmare to me. My death was in front of me,” said farm worker Sherita Alexander, describing the night she and her partner, Jonathan Jansen, their children and neighbours spent trapped on the roof of their cottage.
Alexander and Jansen said they escaped rising water by chopping through part of their corrugated roof with an axe after being unable to open the door because of the floodwater.
Fencing poles on the edge of the Holland Farm property near the old N1 Road.
Floodwaters from the Breede River surged onto the farm late on Monday night after hours of torrential rain. Workers said the water came rushing across vineyards and fields before flooding the row of farm workers’ cottages.
Farm worker Walter Fritz said his family of eight spent the night on the roof near the chimney while water surged below them.
“Huge stumps were hitting the walls and the whole house was shaking. We were around the chimney, holding onto cables on the geyser on the roof all night, trying not to slide down the wet sheets. We knew we wouldn’t make it if we went into the water in the dark,” he said.
Jacomina Booysen and her husband, Michael Mbobo, on Holland Farm. The floods claimed the lives of her father, mother and younger brother.
Nearby, farm worker Michael Mbobo explained how he carried his disabled wife, Jacomina Booysen, to higher ground before climbing onto furniture inside another cottage. Rescuers reached them on Tuesday. But her father, Hendrik Swarts, his wife, Henna Booysen, and their son, Trevor Booysen, drowned inside their cottage.
Farm owner Jaco Botha stands in the ruined living room of his home on Holland Farm. In the early hours of last Tuesday, Jaco, his wife, Phebe, and their three young daughters were forced to leave the house and climb onto the roof to escape rising floodwater. They were rescued later that day.
Farm owner Jaco Botha said the floodwaters were unlike anything he had seen before.
“We had floods in 2023 and then again in 2024, but at our farm, the water was at least two meters higher this time. It was like a river,” he said.
Mechanics fix tractors in a shed on Holland Farm that was flooded during a massive storm that hit the area earlier in the week.
Holland Farm workers, Raymond Plaatjies (right) and Walter Fritz (centre), in front of their families’ cottage last Friday, mopping up athe storm damage.
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