Pretoria CBD building suffers blaze, amid 3-day water outage
No injuries were reported and motorists are advised to use alternative routes.
Traffic in the Pretoria CBD had to be diverted as a fire broke out on Wednesday, July 17 at a storage facility in Sunnyside, amid the area suffering a three-day water outage.
Tshwane metro police department (TMPD) advised motorists to use alternative routes in Sunnyside as the building fire caused the temporary closure of roads.
TMPD acting spokesperson Rebone Molapo said the road is closed on the corner of Park and Troye streets.
She said motorists should keep clear of the area.
Tshwane emergency services department said the fire was reported around 06:00.
Tshwane ESD spokesperson Lindsay Mnguni said the service received a call about a fire in Sunnyside, affecting the corner of Park and Troye street routes.
He said upon arrival, the ESD established that a rental storage of goods (two rooms) was on fire at 06:14.
Mnguni said that no injury was reported. He said the fire was also extinguished.
“The emergency services team is still busy with damping down operations, no casualties were reported.”
He said a fire truck, a ladder, and a district commander’s unit were sent out.
The fire in Sunnyside occurred when several parts of Pretoria CBD and surroundings were without water for three days due to a pipe burst.
Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said water supply is gradually being restored in some parts of the CBD and around Sunnyside.
The pipe causing a water outage had been repaired by Wednesday and water was being restored gradually to allow the water system to build up the required pressure.
Areas along Justice Mahommed Street will take longer to have 100% pressure as they are on a high line, while areas along Bosman Street already have water.
He said the area experienced a water interruption following a pipe burst at Thabo Sehume Street, next to the Gautrain Bridge on Sunday, July 14.
“The gradual flow allows the system to build up the required pressure.”
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He said water had been restored in most areas along Stanza Bopape and Eastwood streets.
Areas along Bosman Street also have water even though the pressure is still low.
“The areas along Justice Mohammed Street will take longer as they are on the system’s high line.”
Mashigo said water tankers will continue to service the areas still experiencing interruption.
“It is encouraging that even though the restoration of the water supply was expected to be later this week, our team of technicians has managed to be ahead of schedule as they have been working around the clock since the incident was reported.”
Mashigo assured residents that the city would pull out all stops to restore water to all affected customers.
“The city apologises for the inconvenience caused by this unplanned water supply interruption.”
https://x.com/TMPDSafety/status/1813475863532335259
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