The City’s Road Infrastructure Management Department has dispatched over 100 teams from depots across Cape Town to attend to flooding related complaints and incidents.

All standby teams were attending to overnight incidents as we have recorded very high rainfall within a 24-hour period.

The teams assisted to unblock stormwater drains by pumping water away from low lying areas as far as possible, by providing sand bags, and sand and milling as requested by the City’s Disaster Risk Management Department.

The very high rainfall – up to 128mm of rain fell at the Newlands rainfall station within a 24-hour period on 13 June 2022 – stretched the City’s stormwater infrastructure beyond capacity.

The City says infrastructure is designed to manage runoff from rain events, but in cases of consistent and heavy rainfall as we have experienced since Sunday evening, the system becomes flooded.

Low-lying areas in particular are prone to flooding.

Cape Town’s rainy season is upon us and Urban Mobility, in collaboration with sister departments, has deployed teams across the city to assist residents and motorists with road and other issues. We had teams working through the night to unblock infrastructure that got blocked, and they are still out there, trying their best to alleviate the impact of the heavy rainfall as far as possible and to assist residents.

Some roads are closed due to flooding and this will only change once the cold front has passed and the water levels are lower. I appeal to residents and motorists to please only travel when needed, and if you must commute, please be extra cautious and drive slowly.

Our teams are on the ground and are assisting those in need of sandbags. I also joined the officials today when they were unblocking a drain and was appalled by what came out. Thus, I want to keep on appealing to residents to not dump waste and objects in the stormwater drains as this exacerbates the risk of flooding during rainfall events.

– Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Mobility, Councillor Rob Quintas.

Residents can report incidents of flooding and blocked drains to the Transport Information Centre on 080 065 6463 or send an email to: Transport.Info@capetown.gov.za