Tshwane rainy season brings death, potholes and damaged homes
Predictions by the South African Weather Services showed that Gauteng was expected to get above-average rainfall for January and March.
This year’s rainy season in Tshwane has left in its wake a trail of death and destruction, as hundreds of homes were hit by flash floods and road conditions worsened as a result of newly formed potholes.
Although the rainy season over the past two months might have filled local dams, it also caused damage throughout the region.
According to Tshwane metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo, this rainy season also led to a tragic loss in life reported by their emergency services department.
In one such incident, a man drowned when his vehicle was swept into the Hartbeespoort stream near the Roodeplaat Dam on December 5, 2021.
The light motor vehicle was swept off a low-crossing bridge near Hengelaars and Seekoei roads in the area.
Meanwhile, police recovered five bodies of men who drowned in a dam in Stinkwater while performing rituals. Witnesses reported the men drowned on January 12 after waves pushed them deep into the dam where they disappeared.
Pretoria experienced rains during the week of January 12 that saw dams around the region being full.
“There were flooding incidents which affected some households. Some families ended up having their livelihoods compromised. They needed social relief in the form of blankets, mattresses, food and temporary alternative accommodation or shelter in worst instances,” Mashigo said.
Twenty-two shacks in Onverwacht, near Cullinan, were damaged by a storm on December 31, 2022.
Meanwhile, heavy rains between 26 and 30 December last year left households in Hammanskraal flooded when their yards were waterlogged with water getting inside the houses.
More than 400 families needed support after the flash floods in the region.
Two vehicles also had to be recovered on the low-water bridges at Rabie and End streets and Olievenhoutbosch in early January.
The effects of the flooding of roads and low-lying bridges might linger for a while in the region.
Mashigo said some of the bridges hit by floods were old.
He said most of the culvert bridges under the roads crossing the Hennops River (West Ave, Lenchen Ave south and north, Rabie Street, End Street, Blackwood Street and Lyttelton Road) in Centurion were not designed to “accommodate major post-development floods”.
Most of the bridges were constructed when the catchment was still fairly undeveloped and the area around the crossings were still agricultural holdings and farmlands.
Mashigo said five of the said bridges were on the Roads and Transport Department’s long-term budget for upgrading. The upgrade costs were estimated at R200-million.
Mashigo said the old bridge under Stanza Bopape (Church) Street was also not able to cope with bigger floods.
“To address the flooding of this road, an attenuation dam must be constructed upstream in the Hartebeest Spruit within the LC de Villiers Sports Ground of the University of Pretoria to reduce the runoff from floods.”
This project was also on the department’s long-term budget.
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Mashigo said flooding on the roads was also caused by storm water drains blockage.
He said although the metro had an annual storm water drains cleaning programme, one of the ways to deal with the continuing blockages was infrastructure upgrades as well as proactive and reactive maintenance.
The wet season also led to an increase in potholes around the region, some of which residents said existed long before the rainy season.
“In mid-December, 1 300 complaints were received. These include other hazardous road complaints,” Mashigo said.
“The turnaround time is 48 hours to attend to reported pothole complaints. However, due to the bad weather conditions and floods, we are unable to repair potholes within the normal turnaround time frame.
”As a result, we have incurred backlogs which we are addressing via a monthly programme.”
Heavy rains in Tshwane usually lead to power outages. Mashigo said rain and floods caused damage to electrical cables when water goes inside their joint points.
“Most of our cables are old and have a lot of joints, which makes it easy for water to enter and cause trips.
“The solution to this problem will be to replace all old cables, which have many joints.”
Mashigo said the metro was also concerned about developing sinkholes. A huge sinkhole formed on the N1 southbound just after the R21 turn-off in Centurion in early January. Preliminary assessments suggested that it was due to heavy rains.
In a statement, the South African Weather Service said Gauteng received above-normal rainfall during the spring season (September-November 2021). The wet conditions continued into December 2021 with most of the country receiving above-normal rainfall during the first 10 days of December.
This was attributed to the La Niña conditions (ocean-atmosphere coupling, phenomena attributing to wet conditions) which were expected to continue during the summer season.
In the first 10 days of December, some areas in Tshwane received above normal rain. According to the weather service, the northern and northeast parts of Gauteng got above normal rainfall.
The weather service said the rainy season was expected to continue until February-March.
Predictions by the service showed that Gauteng was expected to receive above-average rainfall for January and March as well.
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