"I am so pissed off," said Bonteheuwel's Gale Piet as she struggled to get out of her house because of flood water above her ankles at her door.

"This has been going on for the last 10 years," she said. "If they could just clean the drains! My paving is so damaged."

She is one of the many Cape Town residents who did not sleep a wink watching the water ebb closer and closer to their front doors.

The City of Cape Town embarked on a massive storm drain clearing operation recently, but Piet said they were not cleaned often enough to cope with the water flow in the area. The openings were not covered with net to catch heavy items that clogged the pipes either.

Guest on the line: Bonteheuwel Councillor Angus McKenzie