Parts of Gauteng Province and North West Province were negatively affected by the recent floods that hit hardest areas like parts of Soweto, Erkhuleni, Johannesburg, Vereeniging, Brakpan (Gauteng Province), and Rustenburg, Bojanala (North West Province) on Saturday the 10 and the 11 of December 2022. This followed a media release by the South African Weather Service (SAWS) on Friday the 9th of December 2022.

South African Red Cross Society (SARCS) will intensify the dissemination of early warning messages to at-risk communities. Although dissemination efforts were done to minimise the impact of floods on risk communities the average rainfall which the province has been receiving the past week resulted in soil saturation. This resulted in flash floods as there was more water run-off with minimum drainage in affected areas.

Following the joint rapid assessments coordinated by Gauteng and North West Provincial Disaster Management Centers (PDMCs) in collaboration with other government sector Departments which include the Department of Social Development (DSD), Department of Home Affairs, South Africa Social Service Agency (SASSA) and South African Red Cross Society (SARCS) revealed that over 40,000 people have been affected while so far.

The affected people have been evacuated to safer areas which include community halls and educational centres. The most affected areas like Kliptown, Protea South, Bram fisher, Nancefield Hostel and Lenasia in Soweto, Alexandra in Johannesburg and Bojanala in Rustenburg, North West are currently cut off from electricity connection and infrastructure like roads to connect them to markets after flooding.

The humanitarian crisis in Gauteng and North-West province following the recent floods is quite overwhelming for SARCS to respond especially in Soweto, Erkhuleni, Bojanala districts where the organisation is operational and has a strong footprint. SARCS is calling upon corporates, institutions, governments, partners, individuals, and groups to support financially or through in-kind response, initiatives aiming to alleviate human suffering in KZN. All SARCS offices across the 9 provinces have been identified as drop-off centers for in-kind support.