Displaced residents of Port St Johns in Eastern Cape placed in community halls

The flood displaced residents of Port St Johns in the Eastern Cape have been temporarily placed in community halls and recently-built empty RDP houses until the water subsides.

Certain parts of the town flooded late on Tuesday after torrential rains. Some roads were also affected by mud-slides including the R61 to Mthatha.

Only one lane is open.

Mostly affected areas at the Port St Johns Municipality are the CBD Geeenfarm and Mthumbane.

Residents are calling for immediate intervention from the government.

Mandoyisile Zwelibi, one of the affected people, “I stay with 12 children. No one is working. When I came back from work because of rain in my house, I found that the wall had collapsed, the furniture was damaged. I asked for a place to sleep while the children slept in two shacks.”

Business owner Amanda Weenderburg says this is a setback to their businesses on the wild coast.

“Roads started to flood, cars could not go in and out. We had to close our businesses and it got to a point where we had to send staff home. Prior to Easter, it’s a bit of a shame that roads and businesses had to close because of this terrible situation and a lot of the wild coast places are going to have inaccessibility. It’s going to be a very hard weekend for sure.”

Residents fear the possibility of more rain :

The OR Tambo District Municipality in the Eastern Cape has dispatched a disaster management team to assist flood-hit areas of the Port St Johns Local Municipality.

Spokesperson for the OR Tambo District Municipality Zimkita Macingwana urges people who have not been assisted to contact relevant authorities.

“Various communities throughout the OR Tambo District have been affected but the most affected is Port St Johns Greens Farm where we are right now. As the district municipality, we have dispatched our disaster and risk management team on site to monitor the situation and evaluate the damage, and support those in need. We urge members of the community to get in touch with us where they haven’t seen officials on site, so that we are aware of how they’ve been affected by these heavy rains.”

Report by- Nomzwanele Mngoma