Pretoria - The City of Tshwane is ready should it be hit by severe thunderstorms and floods, says mayor Solly Msimanga.
He toured the Tshwane Disaster Management Centre on Friday and checked its preparedness for the continued severe weather that has been forecast.
“I have been in touch with the officials of other cities and mayors as well and one of the things that is coming out is that ours is a well prepared part of Gauteng,” Msimanga said.
He assured residents that the disaster management centre would be open every day and night for the next week.
He said that although the city did not face as big disasters as the other metros in Gauteng, it had plans in place and had communicated with residents.
Workers had cleaned out as much debris as possible in stormwater drains - in preparation for the floods.
Such rubble could be problematic during heavy rains
This week has seen Gauteng receive huge amounts of rain that led to flooding in various parts of the province.
In Pretoria, one woman is still missing after her car was swept away at a low-water bridge in Capital Park.
According to Tshwane Emergency Medical Services (EMS) spokesman Johan Pieterse, her car was found but the search for her is continuing.
He called this week the first phase because they were warned that more rain was forecast. Speaking to staff, he said: “I am very proud to have all of you that had the foresight to plan well in advance and to make sure that we have one of the best response schedules.”
Joan de Beer, the chief of the EMS, said the Bon Accord Dam level was at 103%, 61.5% for the Bronkhorstspruit Dam. The Rietvlei Dam was half a metre from overflowing, while the Roodeplaat Dam was at 96%. “ A lot of the water was drained specifically into the Crocodile River and the Hartbeespoort Dam. I have been told that at the Hartbeespoort Dam they have opened one sluice gate. So they are slowly starting to release the water in that area,” De Beer said.
A sluice gate is a gate used to control the flow of water.
She said that there were various flooding incidents on Thursday evening which they had to attend to.
“We know that eight roofs of houses were blown off. We also had four cars stuck in the water which we had to pull out at 2am. And then we had the low-water bridge in Capital Park where the woman is still missing.”
She said divers and police helicopters assisted in the search.
Police divers abandoned the search but the EMS divers continued their search at a different section of the river as the Apies River water levels increased.
It became unsafe to continue the search due to the rapids.
De Beer said one of the major issues that needed to be dealt with was the power outages experienced, particularly in the east of Pretoria.
Pretoria News