Heavy rain earlier today, Monday 3 February 2014, caused some localised flooding in several roads across Johannesburg, South Africa.
Today’s rain and flooding had been predicted. Heavy rain had already caused some problems for motorists over the weekend, particularly on the M1. Diepsloot in the north of Johannesburg had seen severe flooding a few days ago, leaving two people trapped in their car in flood waters on Friday 31 January 2014. They were later rescued by the emergency services.
Current conditions are reported to be dangerous in some areas of Johannesburg, especially for drivers. Although no accidents have been reported as a result of today’s floods, Johannesburg emergency services spokesman said they would be on high alert to ensure that areas affected by flooding were evacuated as soon as possible.
@EWNTraffic N1 South before Samrand flooded pic.twitter.com/O0OuvJHcNo
— lifedeath (@vitammortem) February 3, 2014
The worst affected areas are Alexandra, Diepsloot and Ivory Park, as well as Klip Valley Road and New Canada Road in Soweto and William Nicol and Goldman roads near Florida. The emergency services called for motorists to avoid these areas.
Soweto
A number of roads in Soweto have been closed including Elias Motsoaledi Road, Main Street and Sifuba Street in Dobsonville and Mahalefele Drive in Dube. Also flood water under low bridges caused problems in Kinini Street in Mofolo Central, Vilakazi Street in Mofolo Park, Mila and Armitage Streets in Orlando West, Mlambo Street in Meadowlands Zone Five, and Vundla Street in Moroka.
Previous Floods
Parts of Johannesburg and across Gauteng were badly affected by floods and hail storms in late November 2013. More recently, 3 people died in flash floods in Western and Eastern Cape in January this year.
Sources: IOL
