The City of Cape Town wants to advise residents from Belmont Park in Kraaifontein to take precautionary measures to protect their homes from possible flooding. Another severe storm is expected to reach the city by tomorrow afternoon. The Transport Directorate is doing all it can to mitigate the impact and teams will be on standby to assist as far as possible.

The City’s Transport Directorate has taken a number of measures in the Belmont Park area over the past few days to ensure the downstream stormwater system is functional and able to handle stormwater run-off during rainfall events.

These actions include:

• An inspection of the stormwater reticulation system

• Clearing of litter and debris that could cause blockages

• Inspected and cleared all of the regional outlets at the N1 freeway, and the system in the vicinity of Mgulwana Street

• Cleared an open canal on property adjacent to Maroela Street with a long-boom excavator

• Cleared an open canal in Kraaifontein Industrial, downstream from Belmont Park

Residents are kindly advised to:

• Clean the half-round channel in front of their properties, in particular sections underneath driveways to ensure stormwater will flow into the piped system

• Ensure that all stormwater inlets along the roads are open, and clear from litter and debris so that there are no blockages that will prevent the run-off from entering the system

• To place sandbags in strategic places to prevent stormwater from entering their erven. It is important to note that, in terms of the National Building Regulations, all houses/dwellings must be at least 30cm higher than the kerb level to prevent stormwater from flowing into erven

• Where possible, and if there is sufficient sloping ground, ditches can assist to divert stormwater run-off away from properties

Reporting:

• Residents can report the flooding of roads and stormwater blockages to the Transport Information Centre on 0800 65 64 63. This is a 24-hour call centre.

‘The local roads depot will do sporadic inspections and will attend to calls as far as possible. However, I recommend that residents also take preventative action at and around their properties before the storm hits. I also want to stress one huge challenge that is acerbating the situation: the dumping of litter and objects in channels and stormwater systems. These cause blockages, and then roads and erven get flooded because the run-off during heavy rainfall cannot flow into the system and through the reticulation network.

‘Dumping in this area in particular, has reached crisis levels. The City is doing all it can to clear the infrastructure but the only long-term solution is for residents to stop dumping objects into the system, and for those who witness these abuses to report it to the TIC so that we can take action. Dumping and littering, and abuse of the stormwater system are punishable in terms of the City’s by-laws. I appeal to residents to please report these abuses as these affect you directly every time it rains,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Transport, Councillor Rob Quintas.

Source: City Of Cape Town