Almost 1,000 homes in Cape Town are destroyed by gale-force winds

Around 4,000 people have been relocated and nearly 1,000 homes have been demolished in Cape Town due to gale-force winds.

According to authorities and an aid organization, about 1,000 dwellings in Cape Town, South Africa’s informal settlements were demolished by strong winds, forcing about 4,000 people to flee their homes.

With numerous cold fronts predicted to deliver torrential rain, strong winds, and flooding until at least Friday, South African weather authorities have warned of a week of destructive storms for the city.

The disaster coordination team in Cape Town has been on high alert ever since the first front passed through last Thursday. The impoverished, unofficial colonies outside the second-largest city in South Africa are thought to be the worst-affected places. In the Khayelitsha township, thousands of people have been forced to flee after powerful winds damaged houses and other buildings.

Gift of the Givers, a local humanitarian organization, gave 3,000 blankets and 10,000 meals to displaced individuals in Khayelitsha over the weekend. According to the City of Cape Town, there have been floods in other places and power outages in over thirty suburbs due to the extreme weather. In addition to keeping an eye on dam levels to prevent overflow, city officials are thinking about releasing some water under regulated conditions because this week is predicted to bring more intense rain.

Cold fronts from the Atlantic Ocean regularly hit Cape Town in the middle of the year during the winter season. The poorest citizens of the city’s informal settlements suffer more from these weather conditions, making their predicaments worse.