Johannesburg - Police and water rescue teams have been working tirelessly to retrieve the bodies of the two people believed to have been swept away by raging floods.
Mphikeleli Msibi, spokesperson for the Emfuleni Municipality, told The Star that one of them was reported to have fallen in a flooded stream while trying to cross and the other is believed to have been swept away in the floods.
The Star understands that 329 families in the Vaal have been affected, 35 homes have been submerged in water, and 70 people have been displaced and are being housed in a shelter.
A number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were on hand to help, and the MEC for Housing and Infrastructure, Lebogang Maile, had visited the flooded area to offer assistance.
“The mayor has deployed the MMC of Health and Social Development to ensure that affected families get psychosocial support; they have also offered blankets, food and other essentials to those that have been affected,” he said.
Msibi said the families of the missing people were feeling impatient with the search for their missing loved ones.
“We understand that the families feel frustrated by the slow pace of the search, but the municipality is there for support, and we are in prayer with them,” he said.
Msibi said several main roads around Sebokeng, Vanderbijlpark, Sebokeng, and other parts of Vereeniging were affected. Low-lying bridges had been destroyed, and the power supply had been interrupted.
“We have now closed down certain roads with sand bags because when we put up red tape, people still find a way to cross, and we are trying to save lives with these barricades,” he said.
The Department of Water and Sanitation sent a statement a few days ago indicating that 12 floodgates would be open to relieve pressure from the Vaal dam. There were fears that the dam would not be able to retain the amount of water that had been contained at over 100%, but these have been allayed by experts.
Some community members complained that the dam should have been relieved much earlier and blamed the government for the floods that occurred following the opening of the floodgates.
Businesses and people living along the banks of the Vaal River had been warned to move up to a higher group, while special emphasis was placed on the people of towns in the Northern Cape where the Vaal and Orange rivers meet.
The Star