The Mangaung Metro municipality in Bloemfontein has activated its Joint Operation Committee to deal with challenges caused by recent heavy rains.
A number of streets and areas are flooded as a result of the torrential rain. The rains have put a strain on the City’s drainage system because of the high water volumes.
Heavy rains have caused extensive damage to roads and households in the Free State. Many residents have been left stranded after their houses were flooded during the recent rainy days.
Municipal spokesperson Qondile Khedama says they will amongst others make sure that affected families have access to the municipality halls.
Khedama has urged motorists to avoid Batho intersection, Dr Belcher Drive and OR Tambo and Hartley Streets as they are deeply affected.
“We brought everybody on board so that where there’s a need for intervention we can do so for example we have a number of areas where we need to deploy traffic officers. We have done so in areas where there’s a need for us to supply people with your heavy plastic for them to cover the roof we are doing so but we also did what is call disaster management at the following number 051 406 6660 that number will assist because when disaster strikes at least there will be somebody who will be able to escalate the problem,” says Khedama.
A woman in her fifty’s was rescued after her car got stuck into the flooded bridge. An eyewitness- Petrus Tshokolo had to rush to save the woman’s life from drowning.
“What happened is that we were standing up there and thee was a man who was trying to stop the vehicles from using the bridge. But it look like this woman she did not realize the man when he tried to stop her then she plunged into flood water. And we rush to her rescue and asked her to open the window so that we can pull her out of the car,” says Tshokolo.
One of the residents whose houses were flooded says, “The rain has damage my furniture even last week it was the same. As you can see my house is flooded my fridge and stove are no longer working. My bed and blankets are wet due to rain. As you can also see both myself and the child we are wet from the rain.”
“The rain has flooded my yard the water has even entered the house even the bedroom. My wardrobe is damaged. The rain has flooded my yard and I don’t know where we will sleep,” says another resident.
Authorities remain on high alert to assist those in distress.
Free State EMS manager Sipho Towa explains, “So our law enforcement they are trying to identify which roads are water locked and we are trying to use the roads that are accessible furthermore our ambulance they are also being notified don’t use this road because we don’t want see ourselves getting stacked in the road. So we furthermore request the road users to be more careful and extra vigilant and make sure the conditions are not normal they adhere to safe following distance.”
A number of accidents have been reported in the city centre due to the slippery weather condition.
Watch video below for more on the story:
