January 12, 2006
By Anish Abraham
CONTINUOUS rain through the night caused problems in many parts of the city, ranging from flooded roads to roads being littered with branches, rocks and dirt.
Two roads to the north of the city were closed on Thursday, 12 January because of flooding in the early hours of the morning.
The flooded Jukskei River rushing though Alexandra
Johannesburg metro police spokesperson Wayne Minnaar said Witkoppen Road, a major arterial running through Sunninghill and Fourways, was closed between Cambridge and Rivonia roads.
"18th Street and Johns Street in Alexandra next to the Jukskei bridge were also closed because of flooding."
Several houses in Alexandra were also affected by floods, caused by the almost non-stop rains over the past week.
"We are seeing flooding in parts of Alexandra, Kya Sands and Sunninghill. There are no major problems but we are very busy," said Malcolm Midgley, spokesperson for emergency management services.
Several hundred people, mainly those living in informal settlements in Alex, had been affected by the rising water, he added.
It has also been a busy two days for City Parks, which is responsible for clearing fallen trees off the city's roads. "We had 17 complaints about fallen trees on 11 [January] and this morning we have already received another 12 calls," said Rebecca Matsetela, from City Parks's customer care centre.
There was a major accident on the Golden Highway, one of the main roads between Soweto and Joburg. Two minibus taxis collided head on - one was travelling into the city centre and one towards Soweto.
"16 people were critically injured and one has died," Minnaar said.
It was not known whether the accident was caused by the poor weather and wet roads, but an investigation was under way.
"Unfortunately for us, [but] fortunately for farmers, this weather will continue until the end of the week," said Tracey Gill, the assistant manager for climate information at the South African Weather Service.
"It should clear slightly tomorrow, before closing in again till early next week."
Monitoring equipment at the Johannesburg International Airport has recorded 16,3 millimetres of rain over the past two days and 82 millimetres over the past 11 days.
"Usually this type of a tropical system only lasts for two to three days. This one has stayed around for more than 10 days, which is unusual," Gill said.
The last time Johannesburg experienced such weather was in February 2000, when it rained for 10 days. That was caused by Tropical Cyclone Elene, which travelled along the country's northeast coast.
The weather service's forecast for today is cloudy with fog patches, becoming partly cloudy with a 60 percent chance of thunderstorms. The forecast for 13 January is cloudy with fog patches, becoming partly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of thunderstorms.
The rainy weather has also helped raise the water levels in dams which supply water to Gauteng. According to Rand Water, water levels at the Vaal Dam increased from 34 percent on Monday to 45 percent on Thursday. But Tendani Tsedu, spokesman for Rand Water, said the rains falling over Johannesburg have no impact on the Vaal Dam. "All of this water flows down the Klip and Suikerbosrant Rivers into the Vaal Barrage, downstream of Vaal Dam. This water then eventually fills up the Bloemhof Dam, which is critically low - below 10 percent. Expectations are that Bloemhof will rise to about 30 percent."
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