Hundreds of WC residents still affected by inclement weather

Humanitarian aid organisation Gift of the Givers says hundreds of residents across the Western Cape are still affected by the cold and stormy weather.

In Lotus Park Informal Settlement in Gugulethu, the Gift of the Givers dispensed help to hundreds of affected residents.

Community Liaison Officer, Corbin Mckrieling says more communities need their help.

“Currently, we are here in Gugulethu, then we are in Khayelitsha, Lwandle in the Strand and then we have to go back to Saldanha. Also, I don’t think we are gonna get there today because our teams are split up here in Cape Town.”

VIDEO | Aid relief for W Cape storm-affected residents:

EC police commissioner commends search and rescue teams

Eastern Cape Acting police commissioner, Thandiswa Kupiso has commended the search and rescue operation teams for their sterling work in the disaster-hit Mthatha area.

She was in Mthatha as part of Operation Shanela 2, a nationwide operation targeting crime hotspots across the nine provinces.

The teams, which include police divers, K-9 units and aerial teams, managed to recover just over 100 bodies of people swept away by the recent floods. Kupiso says while this is the last day for some of the teams, others will remain on standby.

“The search and rescue will continue as long as there are members of the community that are coming forward to say I am still looking for my loved one that I was told is in the area or was traveling to this area and did not reach their destination. There is no way that we can stop the search and rescue up until we can be confident and comfortable saying all the community members are happy with their loved ones, they can identify their loved ones and even those they are still there at the mortuary are identifiable.”