Hundreds rescued from Mamelodi flooding, while the 'Phanda Pusha Pay entrepreneur' keeps feet dry

The City of Tshwane said 150 people were rescued after being trapped in Mamelodi due to the floods on Monday.

The displaced residents are being housed at a community hall in the area.

“There are no reported casualties and all people are accounted for so far,” acting city mayor Abel Tau said.

The city asked for donations of blankets, food, nappies for babies and clothing for all ages.

Contributions can be dropped off at the Nellmapius Library and Community Hall, and the Centurion Fire Station.

The City of Tshwane said emergency teams and police had rescued people from a range of places, including the tops of vehicles and the roofs of shacks. Operations were conducted in a number of areas, including an informal settlement near SuperSport Park, Nellmapius Bridge and Bronkhorstspruit.

As several parts of Gauteng lay under water after six days of steady rain, social media footage of a man offering people a lift across a flooded road on a trolley drew admiration.

He was complimented with comments such as, “Entrepreneurs are people that see a problem and create solutions” and “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity”. One wit snapped out this line: “Phanda Push Pay.”

See the footage here:

On Monday, the air force was called in to rescue numerous people trapped by flood waters in Centurion.

Several roads and low-water bridges were flooded, and cars were swept away.

ER24 spokesperson Russel Meiring said two air force helicopters had been brought in to help rescue people trapped in a hotel in Centurion, adding that paramedics were also part of the rescue operation.

Meiring told TimesLIVE on Tuesday morning that more than 70 people were rescued from the venue.

Hennops Revival said on Twitter the water level had dropped substantially in the area since yesterday.