‘Hell of a lot of rain’ – climatologist
The amount of rainfall which hit Benoni in the space of 12 hours has only been surpassed once or twice in the past two to three decades.
This is despite yesterday’s 76mm rainfall only being recorded over a 12 hour period, and not a 24 hour period as is the norm.
According to Benoni climatologist Clive Webber the 76mm of rainfall fell between 4pm yesterday and 4am this morning.
He said this amount of rainfall far exceeds what is expected to cause flooding.
“There was a hell of a lot of rain,” said Webber.
“You have got to experience flooding when that happens.”
Webber said local flooding can be expected between 25 to 50mm of precipitation in the space of 24 hours.
He said gail force winds (measuring from 45km/h and up) were recorded twice during the storm.
The torrential rain caused the Civic Lake to flood parts of Tom Jones Street.
Cars travelling down Tom Jones Street were re-directed along the N12 highway off-ramp between Tom Jones and Bunyan streets this morning.
Voortrekker Street, near the taxi rank, also experienced light flooding.
According to Ekurhuleni emergency services spokesperson Roggers Mamaila Tom Jones Street will be cordoned off from the railway bridge to Mowbray Avenue until the water has subsided.
He said the water lying across Tom Jones Street cannot be pumped out by emergency services and it can take several days to subside.
Mamaila said emergency services will ensure people’s safety by keeping Tom Jones Street closed until it is safe to re-open.
Tom Jones Street has flooded twice in the last five years and flooding has become more prevalent on the road, according to Mamaila.
View the gallery: /looklocal/content/en/benoni/benoni-galleries?oid=7986531&sn=Detail&pid=9986&Heavy-rains-cause-havoc
