As many residents would say, “Don’t just pray for rain, rather pray for beneficial rain.”
This turned out to once more be true, as the persistent rain over these past few days, once more caused flooding and saw new sinkholes developing in the Centurion area. Centurion, which includes Laudium, is known as a dolomitic area and any underground water leak or heavy rain amplifies the dolomitic conditions. These past rainy days have seen a number of trees falling in Laudium, with some even blocking off streets and at least one dolomite situation reported.
This past Wednesday (Feb 19), residents of Umber Street were awoken in the early part of the morning when they heard a loud sound, only to learn that a large dead tree, fell onto the street, seemingly due to the rain. The tree then caused traffic congestion, as it was blocking off the street and was too large to be moved by hand.
persistent rain.
Tshwane Muslim School
Teachers and learners of the Tshwane Muslim School on 19th Ave, were shocked when they went to school this past Wednesday morning only to learn that a portion of the ground had caved in as a result of the persistent rain, causing a huge sinkhole on the school grounds, which resulted in the boundary wall collapsing and sewage pipes being damaged. There was fear that the sinkhole could spread further and that learners, especially the young learners, could fall into the deep hole. The area was then cordoned off.
A parent of a learner at TMS, who only gave his name as Ebrahim, told the Laudium Sun, “The school issued a notice to all parents stating, ‘Dear Parents and Guardians… We would like to inform you that a sinkhole has been developing at Darus Salaam Madrassa behind the Masjid complex. The affected area is located at the far end of the premises, far from our school buildings, and there is no risk to property or life. Please rest assured that the safety of our learners remains our top priority. We are closely monitoring the situation and will take all necessary precautions to ensure their well-being.There is no cause for concern, and we kindly request that everyone remains calm. Should there be any developments, we will provide updates as necessary. Tshwane Muslim School Management.’
Following the notice, the school issued another statement that the toilets in that area would not be in use due to the sinkhole.
Umber Str
When the Laudium Sun went to the site on Umber Street on Wednesday, a few hours after the tree had fallen, we met many people looking on in disbelief. A businessman from Umber Str, Mehboob Jangariya, an Indian National who runs the spaza shop on Umber Street, told the Laudium Sun, “I saw this huge tree blocking the road, when I came to work. I’ve lost many customers as a result of the street being blocked. I hope that the Council will cut and remove this tree today (Wednesday) as this street is our main route to 19th Avenue and other streets. People now need to make a Uturn and use alternative streets, which is very inconvenient for my customers and also the residents of Umber Street. I understand that the work to remove the tree has been delayed because of the rain, but residents are also facing a huge problem with the road blockage caused by the fallen tree. I hope the issue will be resolved soon, and that the street will be cleared.”
residents were facing a huge problem with the road being blocked by the tree.
Another resident from Umber Street, Isabel Govenderswami told the Laudium Sun, “It was really bad. The loud bang when the tree fell woke us all up. This tree is really big and now it is blocking the entire street. I just hope that the Council workers will still come out today to cut the tree and remove it, as it is already afternoon and I heard that they said they will only attend to removing the tree when the rain stops. But that’s just an excuse. I think they are just being lazy.”
Santosh Chotu, also from Umber Street, told the Laudium Sun, “It is very dangerous for the residents to even cross the street because of the fallen tree. There are live electricity wires that could cause harm to the residents. I hope the Council will come soon to cut and remove the tree.”
*Pritesh Bhana confirmed to the Laudium Sun that the Laudium Disaster Management (LDM) team eventually came later in the day and cut parts of the tree so that it could be removed from the street. The Tshwane Council workers did not attend to the removing of the tree.