About 40 houses have been affected by the Blesbokspruit‘s flooded banks.
Most of the houses were totally flooded and residents had to take shelter in a church nearby overnight.
In some places the water levels were high and residents were seen standing in their yards where the water level was as high as their knees.
Monya Mofokeng (27), Monica’s neighbour, had to put bricks under her furniture to try and save what she could.
She was worried about where she, her sister Nthabiseng and their children, aged five, 10 and 12 years, were going to sleep.
Monica says it is a wonderful gesture that the church provided them with shelter for the night.
She is a pensioner who plants vegetables to feed her family, but most of her garden has been totally destroyed by the water.
“The vegetables will be of no use after this episode,” she says.
Although she lives in a brick house, her house was not spared as the water seeped through the wall at the section facing the spruit. However, it is not half as serious as what some of her neighbours have to deal with.
“I feel so sorry for them as some of the children’s school bags were soaking wet and their furniture are damaged,” she says.
The stormwater drain in Tanzania Street has been blocked for a long time, causing the water to build up in the street.
When the Addie phoned Monica on Friday, she was happy to say the water was slowly but surely starting to recede slightly.
“The houses are still flooded, but the water level has dropped a little,” she says.
Some of the residents have lived there since 2008, when the Blesbok’s banks burst, too, but they claim this time it is worse.
“At the time of the 2008 flood, several councillors visited our area and promised us they would look into the problem,” she says.
Promises of sandbags as a temporary solution to the problem and a wall to be built to protect them from possible floods, was just that “an empty promise“.
The residents feel the council should stick to what they plan to do and not make empty promises.
No comment had been received from the metro at the time of publishing.
