By Daanyaal Matthews
The Eastern Cape Province has been adversely affected by severe weather conditions, experiencing strong winds, heavy rainfall, significant snowfall, and flooding in its communities, with the storm claiming the lives of seven individuals.
The Eastern Government has responded to the adverse weather conditions by ramping up services to assist affected households and secure the safety of residents as they weather the Level 9 storm.
Humanitarian organization Gift of the Givers has responded to the emergency by assisting local government and communities, with Ali Sablay, spokesperson for Gift of the Givers, stating that the organization had been stationed in the province since the South African Weather Services issued a level 9 warning last Friday.
“The level 9 warning was issued on Friday, so our team was on standby for the whole weekend. On Monday morning, at 3am, the community of Butterworth experienced a ‘rude awakening’ with 5000 people displaced and community halls filled up in seconds,” stated Sablay.
The conditions in the Eastern Cape have led to the suspension of day-to-day activities, such as school, with Sablay noting a tragic report of a school bus being upended off the road into a local river.
“I can report that there was a school bus with children, a 22-seater, that was swept away into a river. So far, about an hour ago, they retrieved seven of those bodies; search and rescue services are still continuing. We received a request from the Eastern Cape Provincial Police and the provincial disaster management team for our search and rescue teams, and our teams are preparing themselves to leave from Tata to assist,” added Sablay.
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