Flooding fears in large part of SA

At least two cars washed away as emergency services placed on high alert

ALARMS are being raised over the risk of flood damage across large parts of South Africa as heavy rains continued to fall in the northeast of the country.

The warnings follow widespread flooding yesterday which saw two cars swept off bridges in Pretoria, damage to shops in Komatipoort and Centurion, the closing of roads in the Kruger National Park and emergency services placed on high alert.

There were also concerns yesterday that Ekurhuleni’s Civic Lake and Middle Dam would overflow. The cars, one of whose drivers is still missing, were swept away on Wednesday night and early yesterday.

Unconfirmed reports last night indicated that a second car had been washed off the same bridge where Leon Strydom went missing.

Strydom was driving through Horingneskraal when his vehicle was washed off the bridge and pinned against a tree.

As police and emergency services tried to reach Strydom’s vehicle, his brother-in-law Percy Pitzer described how his [Strydom’s] wife, Melanie, had to be pulled from the water by divers as she tried to swim to the car.

“We were searching for the car after Leon failed to pick his brother up for work when we saw the vehicle’s back window sticking out of the water,” Pitzer said.

“She [his wife] screamed and jumped out. The divers had to fight to keep her out of the water.

“We don’t know what to do. The divers have stopped the search because it’s too dangerous.”

Tshwane Emergency Services spokesman Johan Pieterse said a police diver was injured when he was hit by the car as the water washed it free from the tree.

Pieterse said with the continuing rain, the recovery operation had to be called off.

It would continue today, weather permitting.

Pieterse said they were on stand-by for other emergencies as rivers were still in flood and more rain was expected.

Johannesburg emergency services spokesman Robert Mulaudzi said they were also on high alert.

Ekurhuleni DA community safety spokesman Mary Goby said numerous roads were flooded, with Civic Lake and Middle Dam threatening to overflow.

Kruger National Park spokesmanWilliam Mabasa said while some roads in the park had been reopened, including the aerodrome at Skukuza camp, 10 were closed.

SA Weather Service forecaster Edwin Thema said since Monday heavy rain had fallen in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Mpumalanga with flood warnings for Mpumalanga and Limpopo.

He said Waterkloof in Pretoria had received 117mm of rain over the past 24 hours and Johannesburg 101mm.

Thema also said a similar weather system was likely to hit South Africa on Monday, bringing further widespread heavy rain.

But Agri SA director of natural resources Nic Opperman said it was too early to assess what the rains had done to alleviate the drought.