The Free State has started to clear roads that have been damaged by the heavy rains experienced in many parts of Bloemfontein over the past few days. The Mangaung municipality says many of the roads have potholes which make driving difficult for motorists.
Municipal spokesperson Qondile Khedama says the municipality wants to restore the main roads as speedily as possible.
“We are starting to gravel some of the roads because they are not necessarily friendly to motorist and the number of potholes that are existing are quite high. And we are trying our level best to really attend to some of them, but particularly those that are urgent on the main roads.”
Khedama says the Mangaung Metro will continue to assist displaced families affected by the recent floods.
“The executive mayor has opened a number of facilities to assist the displaced people making sure that they get accommodated. Together with our stakeholders to also make sure that we get some food temporarily. But since yesterday some of them have gone back to their houses to take their mattresses outside because the weather was a bit hot yesterday. So we hope that the situation will improve because even if you can look at today’s weather, it’s clear so we are encouraging those that are able to go back and see how best they can assist each other in making sure that they clear their homes.”
Some of the families that have been displaced have now gone back to clean and rebuild their shacks.
“It was the worst experience. I had to protect my children from the floods as they screamed for my help. Everything in that house is finished.”
“We are tired of living in the shack, we want houses.”
The Mangaung Metro has urged parents to discourage children from playing at flooded dams especially during heavy rainfall.
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