Gauteng hit by Level 9 storm as Amnesty report highlights increasing flood risks in SA

By 8am on Sunday, 16 November, more than 200mm of rain had fallen in Gauteng in just 24 hours, as a Level 9 storm ripped through the province.

Authorities released water from the Vaal and Bloemhof dams to prevent overflow, while urging residents living along riverbanks to exercise extreme caution as water levels continued to rise.

The SA Weather Service’s (Saws’) Level 9 alert was later downgraded to a Level 6 warning for severe thunderstorms over northern Gauteng and the western parts of Limpopo. A Level 4 warning was in place for the northeastern regions — including eastern Limpopo and Mpumalanga — with the possibility of disruptive rain and flooding.

In April, Daily Maverick visited the homes of Alexandra, Johannesburg, residents who live on the banks of the Jukskei River. They told how their houses cracked and even collapsed into the river when it rained heavily.

Read more: ’We just sleep with one eye open’ — living on the edge of the Jukskei River, battered by storms

Last week, Daily Maverick went back to Alexandra to hear how residents were preparing for the anticipated floods, and whether the government had put the necessary mechanisms in place to protect vulnerable communities.

Standing on a bank of the Jukskei, Bongani Albertus, a patroller for the Alexandra Water Warriors, said, “Right here where we are standing, in a couple of weeks, it will not be possible. When it rains, the river gets so full it goes all the way up the [embankment] to those houses.”

He said heavy rains caused the river to rise every year, and the houses on the river’s edge would be surrounded by floodwaters. Many of the houses on the embankment showed signs of water damage, some to the point where only half the house remained.

“It’s a risk; sometimes, you don’t know if when you leave your house, you will fall into the water or not, but it’s the risk people take because finding adequate housing is hard,” said Albertus.

Read more: Heavy rainfall and flooding bring misery to Cape Town’s informal settlements

Daily Maverick spoke to people living in Soweto on Sunday. A 20-year-old resident, Simphiwe Nyembe, said that his shack had been flooded.

“When I got to my shack, everything was floating — my blankets, my clothes, everything. The only food I had was mielie meal, and it was spoiled. I had to throw it out. I can’t even put my blankets or clothes out to dry because the rain is clearly coming back.”

Another Soweto resident, 60-year-old Thomson Nxumalo, tried to shield his home by placing cement around his yard to redirect the water.

“I also put cement around my house, and it stopped the water from coming inside this time. But as you can see, we still can’t even go out. This happens every time it rains,” he said.

In Lenasia, south of Soweto, Mandla Maphumulo said heavy rain routinely caused a sewerage pipe to overflow into the main road.

“There’s nothing we haven’t tried. My biggest problem is there’s no chance it’ll be fixed today or tomorrow because the rain is continuing. It means we’ll have to live with the filth for a few more days before anyone can repair it,” he said.

Amnesty International report 

The situation Albertus described tallies with what Amnesty International South Africa highlighted in a recent report, Flooded and Forgotten: Informal Settlements and the right to housing in South Africa.

The report details the significant incidence and impact of flooding across the metropolitan municipalities of KwaZulu-Natal (eThekwini), Western Cape (Cape Town), and Gauteng (Johannesburg), linking the vulnerability to the escalating climate crisis and chronic government failures.

Amnesty International found that riverine flooding (caused by heavy rainfall, which results in rivers overflowing) and pluvial flooding (caused by excessive rainfall, causing waterlogging) regularly plague informal settlements and Temporary Relocation Areas in all three municipalities.

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Amnesty International lamented what it described as a series of government failures and systemic shortcomings that have deepened informal settlements’ vulnerability to flooding.

Read more: ’We just sleep with one eye open’ — living on the edge of the Jukskei River, battered by storms

Kgabo Raphala, a member of the Alexandra Water Warriors, said the community-based organisation had developed an early warning system to alert residents of impending floods via WhatsApp.

“As community leaders, we always check what’s happening with the Jukskei, so that we can update all the families who are living along the river. So, when we see, no, now it’s rough, then obviously we tell them to go to the community centre and to leave everything to make sure they are safe,” said Raphala.

He said the government’s promises to provide the community with protection measures against floods were unfulfilled.

“Right now, nothing is happening. We just keep on getting promises from the government. Whenever there are floods, government officials come and promise to make a plan, [saying] we’ll build proper structures for these people, but nothing happens,” said Raphala.

After the floods in 2020, he said, residents were removed from the river’s edge and placed in a Temporary Relocation Area, where they were only meant to be for six months, but five years later, many are still there. Meanwhile, shipping containers, which were converted into housing units for Alexandra residents in 2020, remain empty, guarded by security personnel.

Seasonal floods, exacerbated by global heating  

While flooding due to heavy rainfall is a seasonal problem and is a reality that residents of informal settlements have to contend with every year, human-induced climate change has exacerbated flooding.

The Amnesty International report notes that while residents of informal settlements’ low consumption patterns mean they contribute the least to global heating, they are the worst affected by extreme weather events.

The report pointed out that while every instance of flooding in South Africa cannot be explicitly linked to climate change, World Weather Attribution found that the deadly 2022 floods in KwaZulu-Natal were caused by record-breaking rainfall, and “the probability of an event such as the rainfall that resulted in this disaster has approximately doubled due to human-induced climate change”.

It noted that the current climate had shortened the “return time” of an event such as this from 40 to 20 years.

Does the government have a plan to protect informal settlements?  

Responding to questions about the Amnesty International report, Tsekiso Machike, a spokesperson for the minister of human settlements, said the department was committed to careful risk assessment and responsible relocation of the victims of extreme weather events.

Regarding the relocation of victims of the 2022 floods in Durban to the Lamontville Temporary Relocation Area, which the report alleged was prone to flooding, Machike said: “It is unlikely that our team would relocate people to an area that is known to be prone to disasters. We work with qualified and capable engineers who cannot take such risks. The latter conduct the necessary assessments before settling or resettling households.”

Machike rejected claims of patchy progress in the Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme, citing investments of billions of rands and the upgrading of more than 2,000 informal settlements during the previous term of government, with plans to upgrade more than 4,000 settlements between 2024 and 2029.

Efforts to accelerate land acquisition involved collaboration with the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, though challenges such as community opposition remained.

Machike said that new housing developments avoided flood-prone areas, based on geoscientific surveys. He said the department spent more than R15-billion from 2021 to 2025 to reduce extreme weather risks for the residents of informal settlements. It planned to spend a further R14-billion through to 2028.

Safety advice for residents

During dangerous and severe weather conditions, it is crucial for communities to follow these safety guidelines:

• Stay informed: Monitor local news and Saws updates for the latest weather forecasts.
• Evacuate if necessary: Follow instructions from authorities and evacuate to higher ground if in flood-prone areas.
• Secure property: Clear debris, secure loose items, and reinforce doors and windows.
• Stay connected: Keep in touch with loved ones and neighbours, especially vulnerable individuals.
• Exercise caution: Avoid crossing low-lying bridges or flooded roads, as such actions are one of the leading causes of flood-related fatalities.

And for motorists

• Do not cross flooded roads; turn around — water can hide deep holes and powerful currents.
• Reduce speed — wet roads and debris require significantly more stopping distance.
• Patience is mandatory — anticipate heavy delays and road closures, and do not take unnecessary risks. DM