South Africa fights flood disaster

Worst hit are the desolate flat areas around Cape Town

By Martin Plaut in Cape Town

The flood-hit South African city of Cape Town will be declared a disaster area by President Mbeki on Monday.

The area is home to the poorest members of the city

The South African Defence Force has been working with aid agencies and the South African authorities to try to relieve the plight of thousands of people who have had their homes inundated by the rains.

The worst-hit spots are the desolate flat areas around Cape Town airport.

Shanty homes, where hundreds of thousands of the city's poorest people live, stretch for mile after mile on the outskirts of the city and have been flooded by the torrential rains.

The conditions are truly miserable. Many people have nowhere dry to sleep and their homes are surrounded by pools of water turned green by sewage.

A disaster management committee has been established and some help is now getting through.

Sand has been brought in to keep the water at bay and hot meals are being provided by the Red Cross and Salvation Army.

On Monday work will begin to move some of those in the worst affected areas onto higher ground, but this will mean moving people onto disused rubbish dumps and the city authorities are fearful that it will only increase the threat of disease.

When President Mbeki declares parts of Cape Town a disaster area on Monday, more funding will be on its way.

But for the residents of the shanty towns the Cape is living up to its original name - the Cape of Storms.