Three people died while hundreds were displaced.
Johannesburg – Three people died and hundreds were displaced in the flash floods that hit Gauteng over the weekend.
Emergency Management Services (EMS) spokesperson Nana Radebe said a child died at Emhlangeni, in Roodepoort.
“Now, we are dealing with a second rescue of an adult male,” she said.
According to EMS, a taxi driver died and 22 others were injured, two seriously, including a 3-year-old girl, when they collided with two other vehicles on the N14 North near Lyttelton in Centurion.
Radebe said they had done assessments throughout the flood-prone areas of Riverlea, Soweto and Alexandra.
“We have received reports that there won’t be any flooding. The roads and the areas that were flooded have been cleared,” she said.
Yesterday, the South African Weather Services posted on its Facebook account that it expected partly cloudy and cool weather with scattered showers and thundershowers.
Joburg metro police spokesperson Wayne Minnaar has warned motorists not to cross a flooded road, especially a river bridge.
“Rather turn back and find an alternative route because just a little bit of running water can sweep off the vehicle,” he said.
Minnaar said motorists must not take a chance to drive over the bridge, where the river is overflowing.
Gauteng Health Department spokesperson Kwara Kekana said the flooding that occurred at Helen Joseph Hospital was resolved at 10.30pm on Saturday.
She said the issue at Rahima Moosa Hospital was that one of the units got damaged and the team was there yesterday (Saturday) to fix what could be fixed.
Heavy rain in parts of Gauteng caused flash flooding of the Jukskei River in Johannesburg as well as in other parts of the province on Saturday morning. The rains started on Friday night.
Some of the affected areas were the flood-prone suburb of Centurion, the N1 highway through Centurion, Rabie Street in Centurion, the Jukskei River near Setswetla informal settlemen in Alexandra, parts of Soweto and Fourways.
In Pretoria, Edward Komape, a resident of the Itireleng informal settlement near Laudium, was woken on Saturday morning by rain pouring into his shack.
This area was just one of a number in the Tshwane and Joburg metros again affected by heavy downpours.
In low-lying parts of Centurion and Sandton, bridges flooded and across the cities mopping up continued yesterday.
Komape said he was walking in ankle-deep water as he mopped water off the floor, and his yard was flooded. His furniture is drenched and his TV set ruined.
Numerous other shacks in the area were also flooded and the streets were left with mud and puddles.
Tshwane Emergency Services spokesperson Charles Mabaso said the community of Itireleng reported flooded shacks but the city had no reports of injury or loss of life.
