Pupil among 3 killed in Gauteng deluge, and there's more rain to come

Three people were killed and hundreds displaced during heavy downpours that dumped more than 100mm of rain over parts of Gauteng at the weekend.

And more wet weather is forecast for the province on Monday afternoon, before it clears. The SA Weather Service (SAWS) also issued an alert on Monday for 150mm to 200mm of rain over parts of Mpumalanga and Limpopo in as little as 24 hours.

Gauteng disaster management spokesperson Elias Sithole said response teams were activated on Friday in anticipation of the rain.

He said Johannesburg and Tshwane were the worst affected.

Large parts of Gauteng were underwater on Saturday as several houses and roads were flooded.

Emergency services pulled more than 10 vehicles from the floods in Pretoria West and a wendy house caught fire after a palm tree, reportedly struck by lightning, fell onto it.

Sithole said two fatalities were reported in Johannesburg. An eight-year-old pupil from Princess informal settlement and a man in his 30s from Douglasdale drowned on Saturday.

A woman drowned at Kagiso on the West Rand while trying to cross a low bridge near a water plant. Her body was not recovered.

“Yesterday [Sunday] I instructed City of Johannesburg to assist the rescue teams with the search,” Sithole said.

A drain blockage and heavy rains resulted in flooding of the accident and emergency unit at the Helen Joseph Hospital.

Sithole said 208 people were displaced in Kliptown, Soweto, and were taking shelter at a  local community hall.

In Tshwane, a number of shacks from the Itireleng informal settlement near Laudium were flooded.

Sithole said several sinkholes were reported in Laudium and on the West Rand.

SAWS forecaster Wayne Venter said there was more than 100mm of rain over southern Gauteng at the weekend.

There was a “good chance” of thunderstorms in Johannesburg on Monday, he added.

The weather service warned that heavy rain and flooding was expected over the eastern parts of Mpumalanga and the eastern and northern parts of Limpopo on Monday.