- Gale-force winds on 10 July caused severe damage in Wynberg, ripping roofs off homes and leaving families in need.
- The affected residents are appealing for basic supplies to rebuild their lives.
- City officials assessed the damage but stated that private property owners are responsible for their repairs and insurance.
Residents in Wynberg are appealing to the public to assist four families with basic food supplies after a gale-force wind ripped through the area on the eve of Wednesday 10 July and left some sections of the area in dire straits.
Roofs were ripped off in Sussex Road and landed three streets further, leaving rubble, electric wires and zinc sheets strewn across the streets.
People’s Post spoke to Marweeyah Wyngaard, daughter of Mansoer and Sumeez Wyngaard from 117 Sussex Road.
Meanwhile, dozens of residents have been left devastated and the community is now appealing for help as they work to recover from this disaster.
she says.
The daily essentials the four families need are toilet paper, milk, spreads for bread, frozen meals, chicken strips, fish, tea, coffee, toiletries, fruit and veggies.
When the storm hit Cape Town two weeks ago, the City of Cape Town visited the affected areas and Mayco member for energy Xanthea Limberg and other City officials visited Wynberg to assess the damage and start with the cleaning-up operation.
On an enquiry to the City if they will assist private property owners, Carl Pophaim, the Mayco member for human settlements, commented that private property owners are responsible for the repairs, maintenance and insurance for their properties.
“Once tenants purchase community residential units, they are homeowners and are responsible for the repairs, maintenance and insurance for their properties. Tenants of community residential units are encouraged to report required maintenance to the City,” Pophaim says.
High call volume
Limberg also mentioned the high call volumes being experienced and the City’s outage list, which is provided to the public.
“The list is being updated as information is received from the teams on the ground. We encourage residents to report their faults to us via our service channels, including our new WhatsApp line and to keep an eye on our social media channels for updates on the area outages,” she says.
Limberg also added that City Energy teams fix faults in areas as soon as possible but often cannot switch customers back on because the power keeps tripping.
This is because of the large volumes of grid-connected inverters and other power-hungry appliances coming on all at the same time – totally overloading the system and causing it to trip.
Her advice is to unplug all grid-connected inverters, especially as they automatically connect to the municipal supply. This causes a surge when the power comes back on, then trips again and is off.
For any donations, contact Marweeyah Wyngaard on 062 028 6947.
