Homesteads, businesses and infrastructure damaged by the storm in Moutse West, Ephraim Mogale municipality, Sekhukhune district.
Yesterday in the early evening Polokwane and Giyani experienced flash flooding causing damage to vehicles, roads, bridges and buildings. Some retail stores were flooded too.
Peak hour traffic in Polokwane was caught in the midst of the flooding, leaving the city gridlocked. Some people abandoned their cars in flooded streets to avoid being swept away.
In Giyani vehicles were forced to the side of the roads to avoid heavy water current sweeping everything on its course.
The Polokwane municipality yesterday evening issued a public notice urging members of the public and road users to exercise caution as they drove through the city streets. Fallen trees were also reported in other parts of the city. Some of those blocked roads and streets were Jorissen, corner Grobler and Compensate, and Church between Thabo Mbeki and Bodenstein.
The traffic lights on corner Rissik and Market and Jorissen and Paul Kruger had fallen. The municipality adviced road users to use alternative routes and to avoid affected streets.
Meanwhile Moutse West in the Ephraim Mogale municipality, Sekhukhune district, and Ga-Matlala in the Capricorn district were on Sunday hit by a terrible storm affecting houses, schools and other buildings. No fatalities or injuries were reported in all these instances. The Department of Social Development quickly moved on site to conduct assessments to determine the types of social interventions they can deploy to mitigate the effects of the storm disaster on affected communities.
This morning the Polokwane municipality maintenance teams were working on restoring power supply to areas experiencing power failures due to fallen trees on power lines. The affected areas included the City, Ladanna, Nirvana and Westernburg. Most areas had already been covered since last night.
The South African Weather Services is warning of further heavy rains in the province going into the weekend and beyond. Members of the public are therefore warned to be on cautious during flooding and not to attempt to cross flooded rivers and bridges.
