As a powerful level 8 storm swept into Nelson Mandela Bay, hope also arrived with a Gift of the Givers truck that had travelled from Cape Town to Gqeberha to deliver crucial aid to families.
Blankets, hygiene packs, food parcels and baby-care essentials are now reaching those most vulnerable.
A Herald team visited the Lilian Ngoyi Community Sport Centre in Kwazakhele on Wednesday morning, where families who had been forced to evacuate their shacks in the township were taking shelter.
At about 9am, young children, their mothers and grandmothers were seen lying on mattresses waiting for food to arrive.
Among those affected was Ziyanda Kondlo, 39, who fled her four-room shack in nearby Dongweni informal settlement at 1am on Wednesday.
Kondlo said she had to escape with her three children, a toddler and two children aged 12 and 19, when the rain came gushing in.
“I realised we were knee-deep and I had to make a quick decision to evacuate. We went to a friend’s house and then later in the morning we came here,” Kondlo said.
The water was coming inside too quickly. We had to leave. We don’t have any other clothes with us
— Zanele Matshotyana, resident
Kondlo said all she had been able to grab from the house was instant porridge for her toddler.
She said they had been provided with two mattresses as well as a blanket each.
Zanele Matshotyana, 35, said her two-room shack had started flooding at about 9pm on Tuesday.
“We were preparing to sleep, but I feared we would drown if we stayed any longer, and so I decided to leave with my four children.
“We went to a friend’s place and then straight here,” she said.
Matshotyana arrived at the hall with her children — aged two, six, seven and eight — and her boyfriend, Mlamli Roloti.
She said she had not had any time to pack any belongings.
“The water was coming inside too quickly. We had to leave. We don’t have any other clothes with us.”
Nelson Mandela Bay Ward 19 councillor Gamelihle Maqula said there were 68 adults and 89 children in the facility by late Wednesday afternoon.
He said the metro’s disaster management team had provided them with mattresses, while the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) and Gift of the Givers would assist with hot meals and supplies.
Maqula said nonprofit organisation Lithemba had also donated food parcels to the distraught families.
He urged potential donors to come forward because of the increasing number of affected families.
Another Gift of the Givers team was in hard-hit Tsitsikamma to assist with relief efforts.
Sassa also stepped in to ensure some the metro’s most vulnerable residents received much-needed aid.
Eastern Cape spokesperson Tabisa Nondwayi-Mayaba said the agency was providing support to flood-affected communities in Gqeberha in a co-ordinated government disaster response.
She said a joint operations centre had been set up to verify and finalise a beneficiary list to ensure proper co-ordination of assistance.
Nondwayi-Mayaba said Sassa expected to start relief support on Wednesday evening with the provision of hot meals for dinner and thereafter three meals a day for affected individuals for the duration of their stay at the shelter.
“In addition, once households return to their homes, qualifying households will receive a cash voucher equivalent to the value of an old age grant per household, to assist with immediate recovery needs arising from the disaster,” she said.
“This intervention is implemented under Sassa’s Social Relief of Distress mandate, which provides temporary assistance to individuals and households affected by disaster.”
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