By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
City of Tshwane has confirmed that power has been restored to areas that are supplied by the Njala Infeed Substation, which experienced an explosion on Tuesday evening.
Tshwane residents were plunged into darkness and left with infrastructure damage after a severe storm and substation explosion last night.
The City urged residents still affected by power outages to log a call.
“Our team successfully restored power around 3am this morning! We’re aware that other areas are experiencing outages. Our teams are working tirelessly to resolve the issues. Unfortunately, the weather is causing delays, but we’re doing our best to get everything back to normal as soon as possible.”
These are the areas that the City stated were affected at the time:
- Die Hoewes
- Clubview
- Valhalla
- Monrick
- Glen Lauriston
- Eldo Lakes
- Valhalla
- Lyttelton
- Kloofsig
Early this morning, officials from the City’s energy and electricity department were on-site assessing the extent of the damage.
Meanwhile a tornado swept through Montana, Pretoria North, damaging buildings and vehicles.
EMS spokesperson Lindsay Zwelithini Mnguni said rainwater seeped into damaged buildings and caused damage on the top floors of residential units.
He said residents were evacuated and sheltered temporarily in neighbouring units.
“Our disaster management officials were at the scene doing assessments of the damage and determining how they can assist affected families.”
Gauteng is currently in the midst of a water crisis, of which the city has continuously warned residents about since last year. Rand Water has stated that its reserve levels have decreased considerably, and Gauteng’s three metropolitan municipalities are the biggest contributors to the declining reserve levels.
“If we do not begin to take our collective responsibility to use water sparingly seriously, we risk jeopardising the stability of the water system,” the city warned.
Rand Water has tracked the water consumption levels in Tshwane and warned that for January this year, residents have continuously consumed more water than the recommended threshold.
“We have consumed more than 752 Ml per day for January and into February. Our consumption recorded on February 3 was 853 Ml per day,” the city said.
The highest consuming reservoirs in Tshwane are Akasia Park Reservoir, Koedoesnek Reservoir, The Reeds Reservoir, and Wonderboom Reservoir.