City to host awareness and education campaign on floods and thunderstorms
JOBURG – For all disaster, fire, traffic and rescue related emergencies, residents can call the City's 24-hour Emergency Centre on 011 375 5911.
With the warm and sunny days of spring also comes the potential of thunderstorms that wreak havoc on the people of Johannesburg.
With this in mind, the City of Johannesburg’s Disaster Management Centre will host a series of flood and thunderstorm awareness campaigns to reduce the amount of suffering and damages caused by this natural event. Some of the areas the team will visit include Diepsloot, Cosmo City, Kliptown, Klipspruit, Joubert Park, Denver and Setjwetla informal settlements.
The centre’s communication and stakeholder relations manager Niel Rooi said the locations were based on their historic annual incident assessment data which identifies human-induced flooding and historic areas that are prone to flooding during rainy seasons. Rooi explained, “Flood and thunderstorm awareness and its reduction and mitigation measures are informed by flooding occurrences during the previous two rainy seasons and as identified by annual regional risk reduction assessments.”
According to the City, it’s during the rainy seasons were most residents in informal settlements and some formalised housing areas experience water pooling due to blockage of drainage pipes and water downflow paths. During the campaigns, residents will be given safety tips on how to react to different flood and thunderstorm cautions, alerts, and warnings. To comply with Covid-19 regulations, where there are large gatherings, the awareness team will communicate by means of using a loudhailer or mobile PA system.
Rooi added that the centre had a close working relationship with the Johannesburg Roads Agency, the City’s utility responsible for rehabilitation and maintenance of the roads and stormwater infrastructure, to work together on areas of mutual interest during the 2020 flood and thunderstorm campaigns.
Rooi has asked residents in the spirit of #KleenaJoburg to clean in and around water inflow and downflow paths in their immediate vicinity. A request has also been made to residents to open drainage holes in boundary walls to prevent water-pooling and flooding in their yards.
For all disaster, fire, traffic and rescue related emergencies, residents can call the City’s 24-hour Emergency Centre on 011 375 5911.
