Johannesburg floods: here’s what Twitter and Instagram captured

clouds johannesburg floods

South Africa plays victim to comparatively few natural disasters, but when they do strike, they make their presence known. This was the case in Eastern Johannesburg this week, as heavy rains resulted in flash floods.

The floods, which struck on Wednesday, flooded the basement of OR Tambo International Airport subsequently delaying flights, and left many of the city’s motorways also under water. This included the heavily-trafficked N3, N12 and R24 freeways.

According to News24, at least seven people are also currently missing.

Flash floods hit Johannesburg Wednesday, plunging the city’s motorways into chaos

On Twitter, the hashtag #Floods is trending in South Africa at the time of writing, with #jhbfloods another commonly used hashtag. The same tags can be found on Instagram.

Citizen journalists snapped some truly incredible scenes and stills on Twitter and Instagram that captured the vicious wave of water cascading down the city’s roads.

#JoburgFloods A car is shipwrecked in the middle of the #Jukskei as it passes through #Alexandra

A photo posted by Nickolaus Bauer (@nickolausbauer) on

This incredible shot of the storm over Johannesburg was also posted by the City of Jo’burg’s official Twitter account. The original image was reportedly snapped by DlalaNje.

Other Twitter users issued their words of comfort to those affected.

Notably, the last use of #jhbfloods was in 2014, when Krugersdorp received its fair share of rain.

Weather site Wunderground suggests that 20mm of rain can be expected on Friday in Johannesburg, with another storm forecast for Saturday afternoon.

Andy Walker, former editor
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