Cape Town mops up after heavy downpour

The city of Cape Town’s big mop up continues after heavy downpours hit the metropole over the weekend.

According to the city‚ the worst-hit areas are informal settlements. Pictures of submerged cars in Sea Point have also emerged on social media.

“Approximately 4,000 dwellings have been affected in Khayelitsha‚ Philippi and Macassar. No evacuations or emergency sheltering was activated‚” the city of Cape Town's disaster management department said in a statement on Monday.

“Power lines are down in Lansdowne‚ Gugulethu and Wynberg. Trees were uprooted in Constantia‚ Vredekloof‚ Durbanville‚ Tamboerskloof and Pinelands. Various city departments are making assessments and will continue the mop up operations that have been ongoing since the cold front hit.”

One of the affected residents‚ Sino Dyokwe of Soweto informal settlement in Du Noon‚ said her family woke up to a pool of water inside her shack on Monday. She said she is worried that they might have to abandon the structure if the rains continue.

“We woke [up‚ got] out of bed and stepped into a pool of ice-cold water‚” said Dyokwe.

“We tried to take it out but if the rains continue our efforts to keep dry will be a futile exercise. Luckily my small children are in the Eastern Cape. It would have been very uncomfortable for them.”

The city said the flooding was caused by “water being prevented from entering the gully which is the entry point into the storm water system as a result of obstructions at the mouth of the catch-pit or gully. This could be caused by debris on the road surface that had landed in the opening of the gully causing the blockage.”

“In some cases‚ we have found tree roots that find their way into the joints of the pipes that cause a constriction inside the pipe and can cause blockages‚” the city said.

“Areas that are normally hit the hardest are areas that are close to a floodplain or within the floodplain. This is often the case for some informal settlements.”

According to forecasts‚ the rain is predicted to let up by Tuesday‚ but those hit by the heavy downpours on Monday will still face the fallout.

Here's your five-day weather forecast for Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth:

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