CAPE TOWN - The recent storms to hit the Western Cape are almost unprecedented in the destruction they have caused.
In the Cape Town metropole alone, over a hundred thousand people have been affected.
The provincial figure is higher, with other badly affected areas like the Cape Winelands and the Breede Valley.
Eleven people have now been confirmed dead following the severe weather conditions across the Western Cape.
Five drowned, and six were hit by falling trees or branches.
While evacuations took place in several parts of the province, the highest number was in the Breede River Valley.
About 2200 people had to be removed from their homes.
Breede Valley Municipality deputy mayor Juben von Willingh said this latest storm caused a lot of damage.
"What happened in 2023 it reached the 150-year floodline, and we even lost a school in this area. But if you look at this storm, I never ever in my lifetime imagined that I would witness something like this. The devastation saw this coming in terms of the damage this storm did."
"But we need to understand that people's lives in the rural areas and the formal areas and informal areas were affected, and now the people with the municipality need to start rebuilding so people can be as close to their normal life."
Of concern is the fact that the winter months have not even started yet.
These residents lost just about everything but are just grateful to still be alive.
Gift of the Givers' Ali Sablay said they are on stand-by to help those in need.
"They said a humanitarian crisis is brewing as the people have no means to cook, and people cannot purchase or get their grants from the shops. We then had to increase our feeding. On a daily basis, we are feeding 25,000 people, that's the Cape Metro and other outskirt areas."