Raging storms affected most parts of Johannesburg yesterday evening (9 November).
Ward 106 councillor Chris Santana said, “I drove past Douglas Drive and Chrisoliet Street at about 6.55pm last night, all traffic was completely gridlocked. I called Metro to assist with the situation but understandably they were quite occupied.”
“The neighbourhood watch mobilised immediately and assisted with redirecting traffic as well as clean-up operations,” added Santana.
Head of Neighbourhood Watch Sector One Douglasdale, Donne Oosthuizen said, “The CPF neighbourhood watch team received calls of flooding along Witkoppen Road and that Fourways was heavily gridlocked.”
Witkoppen Road was closed at Douglas Drive to Chrisoliet Street due to the depth of the water. Santana added that the water was about half a metre deep.
The teams helped the community to assist the flow of traffic along various other routes as well as general traffic control as all robots were out in the nearby vicinity. “It was an absolute nightmare, due to the power failure, roads were even darker than they usually would be and coupled with the rain, it made for a dangerous drive for any motorist,” added Santana.
Another group was dispatched to Leslie Avenue and Douglas Drive intersection to direct traffic and ease the backlog.
Murry van Zyl from the Klein Jukskei Greenbelt Initiative was contacted to assist the neighbourhood watch with trees that had fallen over on Robyn Street and also on Christo Avenue. The trees were blocking lanes and could have caused a major accident.
Van Zyl and the neighbourhood watch also assisted a resident with a ladder as the gate motor was not working in the storm and the resident could not gain access to his property.
“The team worked hard to help emergency services, Metro police and the police as resources are spread thin in a storm like that. [Both] were able to arrive at Witkoppen Road to assist the team and we thank them for the assistance provided,” said Oosthuizen.
With more rain expected, the team cautioned all residents to take care on the roads and to not cross roads that are flooded as well as avoid low-lying bridges.
Witkoppen Road remained closed this morning due to the water and debris that had gathered at the bridge close to Market Street.
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