JRA begins mass-scale repairs in battered city

The Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) was embarking on mass-scale repairs after some of the city’s stormwater drainage systems and several bridges were damaged during Monday’s downpour.

The agency had not yet estimated the cost of the damages. JRA spokesperson Bertha Peters-Scheepers said the agency was prioritising the worst affected areas, which include Zandspruit, Alexandra and Bramfischerville.

Nine bridges were silted and blocked by debris and some bridge abutments have been eroded. The worst affected areas include Alexandra, Norwood, Buccleuch, and some parts of Soweto.

“None of Joburg’s highways were affected. The flooded Buccleuch interchange is a national road. We do have some sinkholes, which have developed on two roads which we are investigating. One is on Wilgerood Road, in Roodepoort, between Topaz and Ouklip and the other in Lindhaven on the corner of South and Poplar streets,” said Peters-Scheepers.

The storm water drainage has been affected city wide and there have been several blockages in areas that are flooded in many regions in Johannesburg.

“The least affected area was region A, which is the Midrand area. In most of Johannesburg we have picked up storm water drainage issues that our maintenance teams will be attending to over the coming weeks. The clean-up operations are under way with teams focussing on hotspot areas where homes and properties are worst affected and where roads and bridges have become inaccessible.”

There were some townships which were badly affected, for instance in Bramfischerville where houses were badly flooded. There was also flooding in Florida Lake and the Weltevreden area. In Cosmo City, flooding led to some walls collapsing.