Flash floods in Johannesburg have claimed the lives of three people and injured three more, emergency workers said on Sunday.
Johannesburg Emergency Management Services spokesperson Malcolm Midgley said a 20-year-old man drowned when he was swept away in a flash flood after heavy rain in Motswaledi, Soweto, on Saturday.
Another three people were seriously injured on Saturday when their taxi overturned on a flooded street near the Chris Hani-Baragwanath hospital.
Midgley said rescuers had found the body of a 4-year-old girl who drowned on Saturday in Eldorado Park where, according to the police’s Sergeant Richard Munyai, a 9-year-old boy also drowned the same day.
The Jukskei river catchment area management forum has issued a flood warning to people living along the banks of the waterway, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported.
Farmers downstream to Hartbeespoort Dam have also been warned to move their pumps higher.
Motorists and pedestrians have been told to avoid low-water bridges in Rivonia and Paulshof on the Sandspruit and the Braamfontein Spruit. — Sapa