WATCH: Reservoir floods houses in Pretoria
Residents of Moreleta Park were unpleasantly surprised when water started flowing into their yards.
One of many Moreleta Park houses that flooded.
Several residential homes in Moreleta Park, Pretoria were flooded on Monday evening when a nearby reservoir overflowed, Pretoria East Rekord reports.
The reservoir was overfilled in preparation for maintenance work by the metro planned for Tuesday.
READ MORE: WATCH: Pretoria low-lying bridges reopened after flash floods
Residents on Wekker Street got a nasty surprise on Monday evening.
At around 18:00, water started flowing into their yards, damaging gardens and demolishing boundary walls in the process as well as flooding their homes.
Affected homeowner Elsabe Coetzee said some of her furniture was damaged by the flooding.
“The water got into our house and damaged our cupboards,” she said.
The new mother said she had to juggle between trying to clean up and taking care of her four-week-old baby.
“At least we got someone to help us, but it is really the last thing we needed.”
She said attempts to contact the Tshwane metro have been fruitless.
“I have called the call centre several times and they were not helpful at all.”
“I also reported it on their Facebook page and they said the issue would be attended to, but I still haven’t heard anything from them since then,” she said.
In their Facebook conversation, Tshwane responded with an apology and promised to log a call to have the matter attended to urgently.
Earlier this week, the Tshwane Metro announced it would be doing some maintenance work at one of its water plants and warned residents of possible water shortages.
The interruption were scheduled to be between 09:00 to 23:00 on Tuesday.
The metro, however, said it would fill the Garsfontein reservoir to capacity to avoid any water interruptions.
Coetzee believed that the reservoir may have been overfilled, which led to the flooding.
This was not the first time such an incident occurred.
According to a neighbour, a similar incident happened almost three years ago.
Ward 83 councillor Francois Bekker said he would try and help the residents even though Wekker Street didn’t fall under his jurisdiction.
“The area doesn’t have a ward councillor at the moment, but neighbouring councillors such as myself are willing to assist,” he told Pretoria East Rekord.
He advised residents in need of help to contact him or any other ward councillor in the vicinity for help.
Coetzee said they were still waiting for the insurance to assess the damage.
MMC for utility services Darryl Moss said he initially got a report that there was a pipe burst in the area, but realised it was in fact the reservoir which was overflowing.
“We are investigating why the reservoir overflowed with such force,” he told Pretoria East Rekord.
Moss said the city would look at measures in ensuring that this does not happened again.
https://www.citizen.co.za/news/news-cns/watch-pretoria-low-water-bridges-reopened-after-flash-floods/
For more news your way, follow The Citizen on Facebook and Twitter.
For more news your way
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.
