From Bishopscourt to Bishop Lavis, Cape Town becomes a damp, miserable place in winter because the drains are blocked.
And with more rain on the way, things aren't going to improve any time soon.
A map drawn up for the City of Cape Town shows how pipes and culverts blocked by sand, autumn leaves and garden refuse are making areas vulnerable to flooding.
The information was gathered last winter - not a particularly wet one - and provides graphic insight into the failures of the stormwater drainage network.
The map was to be used by the city as a guide to which areas should be targeted as part of its "winter readiness programme".
But judging from the problems after last week's black south-easterly storm, the early rains caught the city by surprise.
Manholes became fountains, roads were blocked, Boyes Drive was closed for days and homes were flooded.
The map shows exactly why thousands of homes are flooded in informal settlements, and why rain causes mayhem for traffic.
Within its municipal boundaries the city has 1 200km of rivers and streams, 650 retention ponds, 5 500km of pipes and culverts and 150 000 gullies and intakes. All require maintenance.
Frank van der Velde, spokesperson for Danile Landingwe, the mayoral committee member for transport, said there were two main reasons why stormwater drains and pipes became blocked.
- Sand, which settles solidly at the bottom of pipes - in one case last year a stormwater pipe was three-quarters filled with sand.
- Autumn leaves, which tend to fall at the same time as the first winter rains.
Van der Velde said leaves were not as big a problem as sand, but they did block intake gullies.
The city was appealing to residents living alongside gullies to rake out accumulated leaves.
Van der Velde said the worst problem areas were those where the water table rose after "quite a bit of rain". These were often the sites of informal settlements.
The city has accumulated statistics on the most vulnerable areas and has also tried to upgrade these informal areas.
In the past there had been no capital investment in these areas as they were seen as having a short lifespan. But this was not realistic, said Van der Velde.
"What we have done is dig drainage ditches and take other initiatives in a bid to formalise streets in these informal areas. These ditches have to be cleaned, as people tend to throw garbage into them."
As part of the expanded public works programme, the city has also set up teams of jobless people to clear gullies.
"In more established areas, we tend to rely on residents who live near drains to keep their streets clean," said Van der Velde.