Rescue teams on high alert for Vaal floods as water levels continue to rise

 By Friday night teams all over were on high alert — prepared to respond to emergencies as they progressed — as dam water levels in some cases exceeded 110%. 

During Friday afternoon and evening ER24, police and fire services, in co-operation with local security companies, evacuated residents — where they co-operated — from areas where inevitable flooding was expected or was occurring. 

Late on Friday night emergency operators were notified of a Cape Town man, his wife and their dog — who had recently settled on farmland about 25km from Vanderbijlpark — were trapped between the roadway and their house. 

The brother called from Vryburg to ask for help as his 59 year-old sister’s phone had died and she couldn’t call for help. She and her 79-year-old husband and their small dog needed rescuing. 

The lady’s brother had called from Vryburg appealing for help. However his sister’s phone had run out of battery power, but reporting that she was with her partner and their dog and urgently in need of rescue. 

NSRI Gauteng station commander Gerhard Potgieter got hold of portable floodlights, headed out to the area and launched their NSRI rescue craft. The NSRI Vaal Dam duty crew was also activated. 

“Following a search operation in extremely challenging terrain, we found them safe but we had to coax them to come with our NSRI volunteers. The lady and her dog were keen to accompany us, but the man was reluctant. We fully understood how hard it was to abandon his home so late at night, but we had to get them into safe care,” said Potgieter. 

Lambinon said that by Sunday teams were still on high alert and rescue workers were on standby, but it was hoped that the worst of the Vaal floods were over for now. 

TimesLIVE