Gift of the Givers expands operations in EC, where flooding caused extensive damage

CAPE TOWN - Gift of the Givers said it has expanded operations in the Eastern Cape, where flooding has caused extensive damage, especially in Butterworth and Mthatha.
 
Forty-nine deaths have been reported, and thousands of people have been displaced.

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Due to extensive damage to the Butterworth water treatment plant, the town’s water supply has been cut off.
 
The humanitarian aid organisation has since deployed two water tanker trucks for the week. 
 
The organisation's Ali Sablay said that additional supplies and resources were brought in from other provinces to support relief efforts.
 
"At the request of acting Eastern Cape Police Commissioner Thandiswa Kupiso, Gift of the Givers has deployed its senior members of its search and rescue members to Mthatha this morning. Our teams will work alongside the South African Police Service’s Diving Unit in bringing closure and retrieving those people that are reported missing."
 
Sablay described what is happening in some of the affected areas: "Gift of the Givers has extended its full-scale humanitarian distribution to the province, as this is one of the worst disasters the province has faced. 

"Gift of the Givers teams are currently in the Butterworth area, where close to 2,000 people are being accommodated in three community halls. The OR Tambo district is in complete destruction, as many homes are completely flooded and washed away. Roads are inaccessible [and] communities are cut off."