MBOMBELA – A fountain of water, about a metre and a half high, shot into the air in Henshall Street on Wednesday afternoon. The stream of water seemed to have come from a burst pipe and escaped out of the sidewalk with such pressure that it left a two-diametre hole in the pavement in its wake.
Water flooded the street and dragged loads of sand with it before Silulumanzi workers stabilised the situation. Silulumanzi has not yet confirmed what had caused the water leak.
The water missed street vendor Ms Helen Mathebula’s informal business by inches. She was working at her street stall when a thundering sound from the ground shook the cement sidewalk she was standing on. “The next moment, a fountain of water made a giant hole in the pavement. Its spewed into the sky with a loud whoosh. I jumped up and moved away from my stall as the flood of water streamed accross the road.”
According to Mathebula, some of the water made its way into the building behind her where Tswelopele Funerals is based. Ms Dora Peta and Ms Ingrid Sibiya are assistants at Tswelopele.
Peta said the the water volume that bubbled from beneath the sidewalk, brought loads of sand to the surface. “The muddy slur of water and sand was dragged along the road and into our parlour,” she said. City Improvement District (CID) safety ambassador Mr Abel Sibiya said the flooding water had at one point reached a level of about a metre and a half deep.
According to Sibiya, Silulumanzi arrived minutes after the pipe had burst. “Silulumanzi workers closed off the water supply and cordoned off the area with danger tape and beacons,” said Peta.
Mr Richmod Jela, Silulumanzi spokesman, said that their control room and technical services department still had to confirm the cause of the incident.
