Two dams burst their banks near Malmesbury, flooding Riverslands [VIDEO]

Non-governmental organisations are scrambling to supply aid to communities that have been affected by the collapse of two dams near Malmesbury in Western Cape.

Large parts of Riverslands were flooded with most of the damage confined to streets though some buildings were damaged.

Two people are reportedly missing.

‘Masses of water in the streets’

West Coast District Municipality communications manager, Heinrich Robertson told Newzroom Afrika the first distress call came at about 4.30am on Thursday.

“We got a distress call from members of the public obviously asking for help. The call was there are masses of water in the streets and it’s certainly not a stormwater issue,” he said.

He said when disaster management arrived, it was still dark and it was hard to see the extent of the problem.

Robertson said disaster management members “risked it all” to reach residents and find out from them that the dam walls had burst.

He said the burst dams belong to the Department of Public Works. They fall within the City of Cape Town’s municipal area but “water knows no borders” and had gushed down to the Swartland Municipality’s area.

“It’s in the high-lying area and when the wall broke the water moved swiftly to the Riverslands area and caused this destruction.”

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Watch the flooding below:

Relief efforts

NGO Gift of the Givers said it was thankful to Riverslands Primary School for making its facilities available as a base for relief operations.

“Affected community members lined up outside the School to receive humanitarian aid,” the organisation posted on Facebook.

“Our teams received full support from the South African Police Services (SAPS) who are partners in many Gift of the Givers projects.”

It said it was “distressing to see the total destruction of roads washed away, homes destroyed and communities displaced”.

The province’s MEC of Local Government, Anton Bredell and Swartland Municipality Mayor, Herald Cleophas met with Gift of the Givers at the school.

Gift of the Givers said people could contribute to the relief effort by contacting them through Backabuddy or call 0800-786-911.

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