Joburg power outages attributed to heavy rainfall over the weekend

[Daniel Puchert]

Electricity warning for South Africa's biggest city

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena says the utility's electricity network is under pressure due to heavy rainfall over the weekend, leaving many Johannesburg residents without power.

Speaking to SABC News on Sunday evening, Mangena said the power utility had around 3,000 active outage calls across the city. He noted that the number of outage calls had reduced from a peak of around 3,500 on Saturday, 4 January 2025.

 

[konfab]

What is the bet they will still say they have a water shortage.

 

[Longboi]

Elec outage due to heavy rain... only in SA.

 

[B-1]

If eskom can say the coal is wet then I suppose jhb can say they cant deliver electricity in heavy rain.

 

[konfab]

Elec outage due to heavy rain... only in SA.

I mean it is possible...

This was our substation in 2023.




Looking at my messages, power was out on the 14th of June, and was back up and running on the 15th.

But this being the racist utopia of Cape Town, they started a flood mitigation project to stop this from happening again.

 

[Lupus]

I mean it is possible...

This was our substation in 2023.

View attachment 1785664


Looking at my messages, power was out on the 14th of June, and was back up and running on the 15th.

But this being the racist utopia of Cape Town, they started a flood mitigation project to stop this from happening again.

I mean it happens around the world as well, not just SA. Heavy rain is destructive.

 

[konfab]

I mean it happens around the world as well, not just SA. Heavy rain is destructive.

In Johannesburg, they were having outages in perfectly fine and mild weather.

 

[Lupus]

In Johannesburg, they were having outages in perfectly fine and mild weather.

Exactly, here in JHB we don't need any form of weather besides a delicate breeze from the wings of a butterfly

 

[Longboi]

I mean it is possible...

This was our substation in 2023.

View attachment 1785664


Looking at my messages, power was out on the 14th of June, and was back up and running on the 15th.

But this being the racist utopia of Cape Town, they started a flood mitigation project to stop this from happening again.

I would say that is poor drainage that should have been addressed when the Plant was built. I see they sorted that out now though.

 

[konfab]

I would say that is poor drainage that should have been addressed when the Plant was built. I see they sorted that out now though.

Population of the Helderberg has exploded fairly recently, and for some unholy reason everyone and their dog paves over their property. Which means that run-off that used to just go into the ground ends up going to the river.

COCT needs to update its bylaws to require stormwater mitigation on all properties. That means you need to have a way to deal with all the water that falls onto your property. From roofs et al, you need to collect it. If you have a paved area, it either needs to be permeable or have some other means of transferring water to the ground.