How we survived the floods: Families forced to evacuate homes

Torrential downpours across Gauteng on Friday had families fighting for their lives.

Hamburg resident Davie Maruma said he nearly lost his children in the flood.

“We were sleeping when all of a sudden, I was woken up by my nephew. When we woke up, the whole house was flooded. The beds were floating and the water started rising,” he said.

House flooded

Maruma had to evacuate his children aged five, seven, eight, 12 and 16 years old.

“Water was coming into the house from all directions. We were surrounded. We tried to open the doors but couldn’t. When we went out the backdoor the back wall collapsed and that water nearly washed us away,” he said.

Maruma said he grabbed his daughters and helped them climb over the wall with a step ladder.

“If we didn’t jump over the wall, we wouldn’t have gotten help,” he said.

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Family climbs on roof

Another Hamburg resident, Goodwill Ngwenya, and his two boys had to climb onto their roof to escape the flood.

Ngwenya said when they went out of the house at 4am on Friday the water level rose as high as the car.

“I broke the bathroom window and helped my boys up the roof. One of the neighbours came to help with a rope,” he said.

“I could have died. My swimming pool was pushed out of the ground from the flood,” he added.

Roads and bridges flooded

The downpour saw various areas in Johannesburg West severely affected as roads and bridges flooded or collapsed in Kilburn Road, Wilgerood Road, Albertina Sisulu Drive, Robert Broom Drive, Hendrik Potgieter Drive and the Florida Lake area.

The severe weather event was due to a cut-off low-pressure system, developing west of the country, and was expected to intensify from Saturday (10 December 2022) as it moved closer, a weather forecaster said.

The South African Weather Service said severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall were likely in the Northern Cape, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday, spreading to the Free State on Sunday and reaching Free State, North West, Gauteng and Mpumalanga by Monday.

Vox meteorologist Annette Botha explained a cut-off low-pressure system (COL) was upper air that intensified and became cut off from the main westerly flow in the upper levels of the atmosphere, so spun off on its own.

“COLs are associated with very significant atmospheric instability and strong convection up-draughts, and are one of the largest causes of devastating floods,” she said. “This COL will bring torrential downpours across the country, mainly over the interior this weekend and into Monday.”

Botha said COLs were highly unstable, erratic and potentially life-threatening storms.

More rain expected

The forecast could therefore change as the system strengthened or weakened. Models were currently estimating amounts exceeding 50mm and in isolated places up to 80mm of rain over the interior of South Africa.

ALSO READ: Brace yourselves for more wet weather, possible flooding in coming days

She said Gauteng, North West, Mpumalanga highveld, eastern Free State and parts of KwaZulu-Natal had experienced above-average rainfall this season, which resulted in the ground being saturated, lessening the infiltration capacity of the soil.

“Further rainfall will quickly lead to overland runoff and localised flooding. Streams and river systems could also begin flowing strongly,” she warned.

Additional reporting Michel Bega