Pretoria - Another sinkhole has appeared in Centurion after consistent rains battered the dolomitic suburb over four days last week.
The gaping hole appeared on Amkor Street between corners of Clifton and Beryl streets, and the City of Tshwane has warned the public not to visit the site as it is unsafe.
The City said that the sinkhole was estimated to be 23m long by 5m wide, and was 18m deep.
“It is being prioritised for investigation and repairs, and there are no time frames which are available currently as to when the sinkhole will be fixed,” Tshwane said.
The City also said that since the beginning of the year there have been five sinkholes that have occurred in Centurion, including the recent one.
“Since sinkholes are fixed (rehabilitated) according to priority list and need a completed investigation to define the repair method and scope, none of the new sinkholes have been rehabilitated as yet.”
Over the years, Centurion has been hit by floods and sinkholes, and has even been nicknamed “sinkhole alley” on social media.
In January, heavy rains left a massive sinkhole along the N1, near Centurion, forcing Sanral (the SA National Roads Agency Ltd) to call on geotechnical experts to assist with assessment.
Also in early April, the City informed residents, particularly motorists in Lyttleton Manor, Centurion, about the temporary closure of Kruger Avenue.
This was due to a sinkhole that had developed on the roadway.
The City said the sinkhole, observed on March 10 as a physical hole on the roadway with surrounding sagging and cracks in the road surface, was visible in the southbound lane of the roadway, and extended below the surface to the northbound lane, and possibly further beyond.
“And as previously reported, the presence of dolomite, which is most likely activated by heavy rains, is the reason behind sinkholes in Centurion.”
According to Sinkhole Status Tshwane 2021, a sinkhole incident is a corporate risk that causes damage to services and infrastructure; and requires an Interdepartmental approach to secure, safeguard, divert services, effect road closures, monitor and repair.
It also states that a process has been developed to rank sinkholes of municipal responsibility in terms of the priority to repair.
“Risk and safety factors have been identified and are assigned numerical values for various extents of the factors. Each sinkhole is allocated values based on the extent of the factors and the total of which makes up a final value.
“The sinkholes are subsequently ranked in order of highest value and highest priority to repair to lowest value and lowest priority to repair.“
According to the Council for Geoscience, in the past five years alone, roughly 200 sinkholes were recorded across Gauteng, with many remaining open.
Pretoria News