Heavy rainfall in Centurion caused flash floods in Rooihuiskraal today and a bridge in extention 60 in Olievenhoutbosh collapsed.

Residents from Olievenhoutbosh had difficulty to cross the Rietspruit today where the bridge collapsed and three more bridges upstream have been deemed unsafe to cross.

Raymond Chauke and Clyton and Arnold Chaze said they were especially concerned about children in the community having to cross there to attend school.

“There is only one school and it is on this side of the river. All those people living on the other side will have to cross the river to get to shops and the main roads,” they said.

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Roland Hendricks, deputy chief staff officer of Tshwane emergency services, said “no emergencies have been reported in the past 12 hours”.

“Our disaster management officials have been deployed in the low water areas and monitor the hotspots.”

As a stern warning to residents, Hendricks said, “when residents are confronted with emergency situations during floods, do not endanger your life to try and assist if you are not qualified in that field”.

“The speed of water is deceptive and could result in tragedy. Rather call our emergency number 107 directly from any phone, with or without data, you will reach us.”

He said residents are familiar with information that was issued by the metro in the past in respect of the dangers of low water areas and they must adhere to that.

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In a media statement today from the office of the Tshwane MMC for Human Settlements, councillor Abel Tau, the city indicated it will “fast track efforts to build safe bridges for the Olievenhoutbosch community”.

“The City of Tshwane’s human settlements department and roads and transport department are working towards implementing measures to assist Olievenhoutbosch, extention 60, residents,” said Lindela Mashigo, Tshwane spokesperson.

“This comes after recent heavy rainfall damaged a low-lying bridge in Olievenhoutbosch, extention 60, which has subsequently compromised the safety of those residents attempting to cross the bridge.”

He said ward councillors and community leaders found that the main affected bridge is not suitable for use during the rainy season, following a multi-stakeholder site visit in the area, which included city officials.

“The crossing, although referred to as a bridge, was never constructed to serve as a bridge, as it is only viable for crossing during the dry season.

“Upon further inspection we found that, overall, there are four bridges that can be identified as dangerous.”

Mashigo said to respond to this matter, the city’s regional operations centre will provide barriers during flooding in the interim, “so no resident may attempt to cross the bridge”.

He said the centre will further provide signage to mark the crossing as dangerous during flooding.

“Internal processes to construct the main bridge are at an advanced stage. The department has commenced with drafting tender documents to procure a contractor, subject to the approval of the designs by the roads and transport department.”

Mashigo said it is important to note that it takes a minimum of 90 days to conclude a public tender process.

“This means that we can expect the construction of the bridge to commence around May this year. The department ensured it would like to assure the affected community that this matter is receiving urgent attention and has been prioritised by the department.”

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