The death of a Vanderbijlpark woman on Wednesday has brought to five the number of people who drowned because of flash floods in the past two weeks.
On Wednesday evening, Lirong Liu, 54, drowned after the car she was travelling in with her husband was swept away. The couple was driving across a river near their golf estate home in Vanderbijlpark when the incident happened.
Her husband, Xling Zhang, 55, survived the incident and ER24 paramedics found him "holding on for his life" near his car in the water shortly after 6pm. He was treated for shock and hypothermia.
Liu's body was found two hours later in the Vaal dam, one kilometre from where she was swept away.
Gauteng police reported three more drownings on Tuesday evening.
While the two people who were feared drowned in Mofolo, Soweto were found alive, one man died after he was swept into the Jukskei river, said Superintendent Eugene Opperman.
Another drowning was reported in Mpumalanga where a woman was killed when her car was swept off a bridge during heavy rains on February 4.
Ria Janse van Rensburg was crossing a bridge with three children in the Mondi Geluk plantation outside Nelspruit when her VW Chico was swept into the water.
The three children were successfully plucked from the car after a plantation employee witnessed the incident, but Janse van Rensburg, like Liu, did not survive.
She remained trapped in the car as it sank into the river, said Inspector Dawie Pretorius at the time.
In the North West, two people drowned in separate incidents on January 31 while trying to cross overflowing rivers.
A man drowned while crossing the river over the Hartsrivier bridge in Delareyville while the other drowned while crossing the Ruitkuil low tide water bridge on the road between Klerksdorp and Ventersdorp.
Police spokesperson Inspector Sam Tselanyane identified the two as 50-year-old Modiko Thomas Kgalapa and 63-year-old Samuel Mathsmeld.
Heavy rains in the area had caused the closure of both routes at the time and Tselanyane said road users had been warned via radio stations to use alternative routes.
Another near fatal accident occurred on the Jukskei River on January 29.
A man was swept off a low-lying bridge by strong water currents while driving his eight-year-old daughter to school, said Johannesburg emergency services spokesperson Percy Morokane
The two were rescued by the JEMS water rescue team and the girl was treated for shock. No other injuries were reported.
Limpopo, Northern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Western Cape police could on Thursday not indicate if they had heard of similar incidents but warnings of heavy flooding were reported in most of the provinces over the past month.
ER24 spokesperson Werner Vermaak could also not provide statistics, saying "it was difficult to come up with those statistics because we don't have separate categories for drownings and flood incidents". - Sapa