How woman saved people trapped in car

Nthabiseng Hoopster has relived the moments when she rescued two out of four people trapped inside a car under a flooded bridge in Kroonstad, Free State.

This as heavy rains in the province and parts of the country left a trail of destruction, causing damage to infrastructure.

Hoopster, 30, said she was on her way home with her younger sister when it started raining heavily.

She said she had fetched her sister from the salon as she was worried she would not be safe because of the rain. Hoopster said on their way home, it started raining heavily and the water levels were rising.

They decided to wait for the rain to stop before proceeding home. At this time, she said she noticed that there was a car, a BMW, stuck under Maokeng Subway bridge as water levels increased.

Hoopster said without thinking, she walked towards the bridge to help the four occupants.

"I noticed a gold car stuck under the bridge, there were people waving hands and the lights were going on and off. You could tell that the car was stuck. I rushed to the bridge and when I got to the car, they handed me the bags with cellphones and laptops, I rushed out and gave them to my little sister," she said.

"I rushed back and helped the two ladies trapped to get out of the car through the back window."

Hoopster said she led them out of the water to safe ground. She said when she was walking back to the car, the two young men who were inside had managed to free themselves.

Hoopster said she helped the men as they tried to pull the car out of the water but they couldn't get it out.

"The rain was continuing to pour and the water was freezing cold. I am about 1.7m tall and the water was as  high as my chest level."

Moments later, a fire engine arrived and tried to help pull the car from under the bridge but the strong current kept pushing the car in the opposite direction.

The fire engine also got stuck in the water, she said, adding that a second truck arrived.

"The second truck arrived but there was nothing they could do because the first truck was stuck in the water. We were now stuck on top of this truck – me and the owner of the car. We were told to swim.

"Honestly, I was shivering at this point because I have never had formal swimming lessons in my life. The little I know about swimming I learnt by merely looking at how people swam. I swim in swimming pool at resorts where there are lifeguards but this time I had to swim to save my life."

Hoopser said she was still shocked by her bravery and still does not know what pushed her to run into the water to help. 

Dika Kheswa, spokesperson for Moqhaka municipality disaster management, said the heavy storm damaged about 120 houses.

"We experienced damage to infrastructure, our drainage system, houses had roofs blown away and some houses were left without electricity. We received about 500 complaints, and now we are standing at 100 houses without electricity. We are aware of the incident of BMW,” Kheswa said, adding that he did not have further details on the incident.

Meanwhile on Tuesday morning, a motorist trapped inside her car on a flooded road in Centurion, Pretoria, was rescued by emergency services personnel.

In Western Cape, torrential rains caused massive damage to homes and schools. Roads and power infrastructure were also affected.

Several towns reported power outages since the storm first hit on Saturday.

newsdesk@sowetan.co.za