Resident loses assets worth millions due to floods
About R2m worth of a resident’s assets have been lost due to floods, and the St Andrew’s resident is still waiting for the municipality to attend to the stormwater drains, which seem to contribute to the flooding.
The recent floods have become a recurring nightmare for a resident in St Andrew’s, Germiston, who has lost assets worth about R2m.
Bryan Dunnett, who has lived in St Andrew’s for 35 years, had his fourth Christmas living on concrete floors. His flooding nightmare began in 2016. The flooding occurred again in 2017 and on November 30, 2025.
“Water from the road comes onto the property and then into our homes. In this particular case, the water level was over 1m.
Photo: Supplied
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“The doors on the passage are special doors designed to form a seal, and that saved us from more damage because the 1m before the passage became about 30cm inside the house. You only need that much water to ruin a carpet, and so all of them are gone,” Dunnett said.
He added that since the 2016 flood, he has lost four cars. During one of the floods, he watched his massive fridge floating due to the force of the water. He had to endure visitors staying away due to the damp carpet smell before it was removed.
Dunnett said: “Because we experienced these traumatic events, we’ve put special sealing doors in place as barriers for protection, which are very expensive.”
Dunnett expressed his disdain for this situation because he is always on edge, looking at his phone to check the weather several times a day while at work in Pretoria. He always wonders what he will come home to when it’s raining.
Another long-term effect of these floods is that although Dunnett may want to move, he struggles to sell the house.
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“I don’t have a choice because I have to tell you that there has been a flood, morally and by law. No one may change their mind upon hearing about the flood situation.
“We are almost held hostage in our own homes because of the historic flooding in our area, and it’s all because of St Christopher Road. It just cannot cope. I know we’re at the bottom, I understand that, but there’s still got to be a mechanism to get rid of the water. In my opinion, those drains are totally inadequate.”
Ward 20 Clr Jill Humphreys said Dunnett shouldn’t have to invest in expensive flooding barriers because this is a municipal problem.
She added that the municipality had not maintained the drains for ten years. Humphreys said local departments get no budget to do maintenance.
“When there are developments higher up, they will increase the runoff. The developers pay huge sums of money to the city to upgrade the infrastructure, but nothing happens, and there is no upgrade.
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“The residents are not protected. They are paying a ridiculous amount of money for the pleasure of living here, and no upgrades have been done.”
The councillor said she will keep pushing the city to attend to the stormwater drains.
The city has been contacted for comment, but we have not received anything yet.
