Johannesburg, (Samajweekly) Heavy rains have killed 16 people in South Africa’s largest city Johannesburg in the last two weeks, an official has said.
“Thus far, 23 people have been rescued by Joburg Emergency Medical Services and 148 people have been rescued by the police search and rescue,” Executive Mayor of Johannesburg Mpho Phalatse said at a media briefing.
The torrential rains have damaged property, fauna and flora, and essential infrastructure, particularly roads, traffic lights, buildings, substations, power stations and pipelines, she was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying.
Meanwhile, the country’s power utility Eskom is battling to restore the electricity supply affected by the floods that hit Johannesburg last weekend.
“Load shedding has further compounded our challenges with the maintenance and repair of infrastructure that has been severely damaged by the floods. There are approximately 5,000 outstanding calls logged to post the flooding, which need to be attended to, fixed, and cleared over the next 72 hours of reprieve,” Phalatse has said on Thursday.
