Heavy rainfall over the last 2 days has caused flooding in areas of Cape Town and areas of Western Cape Province, South Africa.

Floods in Cape Town, South Africa, June 2022. Photo: City of Cape Town

The city of Cape Town said it deployed over 100 teams to attend to flooding related complaints and incidents. The teams assisted to unblock stormwater drains by pumping water away from low lying areas and by providing sand bags and flood protection. The City’s Disaster Risk Management Department coordinated assistance for flood victims in several locations across the city including Kleinvlei, Ravensmead, Goodwood, Strand, Bonteheuwel, Belhar, Maitland and Bellville South.

The city said 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 severe weather and flooded roads were blamed for a number of road accidents in the region, including one involving a school bus carrying over 50 pupils in Paarl. The local volunteer fire protection service, Drakenstein Farm Watch, said, “On site, in the pouring rain, we found 50 schoolchildren, who already climbed out of the bus and after examination by DFW EFAR teams (emergency first aid responders) it appeared that only 4 had minor injuries and were treated on site.”