Homes were flooded, cars were submerged and later written off, while walls, fences, and trees were knocked down across Ferndale.
Residents have blamed the terrible state of stormwater drains for the flooding after the fierce storm on the evening of March 7.
In Ghada residential complex, where four cars were damaged, caretaker Madoda Khumalo had to smash a hole in the wall for the water to escape.
“This guy is the real hero,” resident Wonder Nkomo pointed to Khumalo as he sat on his bed drying outside. He and other residents had laid their belongings outside and used buckets to remove water from their cars.
“The water was knee-deep in the house and filling up when he managed to drain it at the complex wall outside,” said Nkomo.
The caretaker said he was only thinking of the children in the apartments as water entered through their windows. He spent the following day repairing the complex wall that had fallen while tow trucks carried the vehicles of residents away.
Across the road, resident Senzokuhle Sibuyi saw three of her home’s four walls collapse when water forced enormous tree stumps through them.
“The water was ankle-height inside the house and everything is wet. Our table was washed outside and across the road into the apartments there,” she said.
Cleaning up his property, Langa Dube said he had a newfound respect for the power of water.
Not just one car was washed into the driveway of Peet van der Merwe but while its occupant was climbing out through the window to escape, another car was swept into it. They were towed away the next day but a bonnet was left behind, along with a wheel that did not belong to either car but another that must have lost it.
“We had similar flooding in 2017 and I installed gates that would open at the bottom for this, which helped,” said Van der Merwe.
His neighbour, Jhan Kruger had her fence destroyed and she complained of having to keep her dogs inside the house until it was repaired.
The flooding caused an electricity outage which City Power attended to and by the end of the next day had restored power.
“Close to 2 500 calls were logged after overnight thunderstorms which triggered equipment failure at various substations,” City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said.
Ward 104 councillor Emi Koekemoer said she had received about 1 000 messages of damage to property and lack of power.
Stormwater drain system blamed
Van der Merwe and Kruger blamed blocked stormwater drains in the area for causing the flooding.
Ward 104 councillor Emi Koekemoer did not rule this out.
“The entire stormwater system in Ferndale is a mess which is why the stormwater upgrade was introduced,” she said.
This project, however, had been under forensic audit, she added. “Phase one was signed off as completed before it was completed and caused more damage than good.
“There was a big multi-million rand stormwater project that devastated the local community because it made it difficult for people to move in and out of their houses. Not only that but the work itself was shoddy. The side of Bond Street is completely collapsing.”
She added it had also caused the big sinkhole last year on the corner of Elgin Avenue and Bond Street.
Also read: Road collapses in Ferndale
“What happens every time is JRA leave it until four months before the end of the financial year, which is exactly what they are doing now with phase two, then suddenly they want to introduce and rush it and sign it off before it has even been done. There are a lot of question marks all over that project.”
Johannesburg Roads Agency spokesperson Lucia Mahlanga was sent questions on March 8 about the state of the stormwater drains, whether they could be blamed for the flooding, and how the upgrade project was managed. She was also asked when residents could expect roads that were damaged by the flooding to be repaired.
No comment was received by the time of going to print.
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