Two vehicles stuck on flooded EL roads

Two vehicles had to be pulled out of a heavily flooded Commercial Road bridge underpass in the East London CBD around 7pm on Friday night.

This after a strong rainy and windy weather on Friday afternoon.

Collin Kobese, 60, was on his way to Nompumelelo location when his vehicle drowned in floods.

Speaking to DispatchLIVE, Kobese, who was visibly frightened by the incident, said he was not aware of how deep the flood stream was until he saw his car floating.

“I saw the cones and passed them because I thought there wasn’t too much water.  As I was driving further, my car jammed, that’s when I realised that the water is actually deeper,” he said.

Kobese and another motorist were towed off the stream by Dawie Deetlefs and Ferdi Barnad who were driving a Toyota Hilux bakkie, on their way to celebrate Deetlefs’ 25th birthday at Hemingways mall.

Deetlefs said since they had ropes in their bakkie, it felt like a good idea to assist.

“We thought we couldn’t go back after seeing people stranded there. We had to assist. We were shocked not to see police there,” said Deetlefs.

Buffalo City Metro earlier issued a warning to residents to be cautious on the roads following the strong rainy and windy weather conditions on their website and social media accounts.