WATCH: City’s blamed for flooded property
PROBLEMATIC: Rafeeq Isaacs’ Schaapkraal street flooded due to storm. Picture supplied
A Schaapkraal resident says he blames the City of Cape Town after his house was flooded during last week’s stormy weather.
He says the storm drains in Third Avenue have been blocked since Wednesday night, leaving their eight -room house ankle deep in water.
A despondent Rafeeq Isaacs, 50, says neighbours helped sweep the water out when it stopped raining: “But the water in the road is still very high. The cars that pass result in water running into my property.
“The pedestrians can’t use the road. I tried to call the Council on Saturday as well, no feedback, only promise to escalate my request. I am now a gatvol ratepayer.”
Rafeeq says the situation could have been avoided had the City responded to his requests in April to have the drains in the street cleared ahead of winter.
But all he got was reference numbers and advice “not to touch the drains” as it is municipal property.
“They would not listen and said the road is private property. Now I have to suffer,” he says.
“I got my lawyer involved and we are busy with the estimated cost of the total damages.
“It is a lot, the whole house is wet.”
City spokesperson Luthando Tyhalibhongo says there is no formal stormwater system and the road is drained through open earth channels, “meaning, there are no stormwater inlets to drain runoff from rainfall events away from the road as the road was designed to accommodate the stormwater flow within the road itself. Thus, there are no drains to fix,” he says.
Tyhalibhongo advises residents to use sandbags or construct a temporary trench around their dwellings to prevent the water from entering their homes as mitigating measures.