A firefighter helping search and rescue operations in flood-stricken Centurion died in hospital after his canoe capsized on Monday morning, a spokesman for Tshwane community safety department said.
“They gave him CPR for 40 minutes, but unfortunately he passed away,” said Johan Pieterse.
He and a colleague had been paddling around the dam as part of standard search and rescue procedure in such conditions, explained Pieterse.
They capsized going down a rapid and his colleague initially could not find him. They eventually spotted him and started emergency resuscitation, which carried on while he was in a helicopter urgently dispatched to transfer him to hospital.
“It's very sad, he didn't make it,” said Pieterse.
Earlier, Pieterse's colleague William Baloyi had expressed hope the man would make it.
“He was airlifted to hospital and we hope he will be alright,” Baloyi had said.
Pieterse said that at least seven people thought to have been swept away had not been located yet.
A man who had been swept away in his car and had managed to clamber onto the roof while it was still dark, told rescuers he saw at least seven people being pushed down the river past him.
Residents and staff at the Centurion Lake Hotel in Pretoria also had to be evacuated due to heavy flooding on Monday morning.
Baloyi said the water covered the hotel's parking lot Ä at one point at least knee high.
“The flow of the water was quite violent and it was a little bit frightening.”
This prompted emergency services staff to carry out house to house headcounts at the smallholdings dotted along the Hennops River which passes through the area.
Baloyi said everybody had to leave the 160-room hotel and owners were advised to have an engineer examine the building.
Emergency services had also been told that although some streets had been reopened, the Rietvlei dam was 101 percent full and the flood gates might have to be opened if it rained again.
This would put further pressure on the Hennops River, which flows through south east Pretoria, which is a mixture of urban housing and smallholdings.
Six people were rescued on Monday morning, among them a mother and child and two women in separate incidents who also had to climb out of their cars and wait on the roof for help.
In Ivory Park closer to Johannesburg, 34 people had to be evacuated from the Thambakazi informal settlement.
The SABC reported that schools at eight villages in the Mutale area in the Vhembe district of Limpopo were closed due to flooding.
Teachers and pupils were unable to reach the schools in Damani, Tshipaeko, Mkwarani, Vhutalu, Tshidzivhe, Tshilungwi, Tshitangani and Mudzidzi.
And, two people were missing and around 400 evacuated and helped along the flooded Orange River between Upington and Kakamas in the Northern Cape, officials said. - Sapa