Crocs ‘have left the town’

The area between The Carousel Casino and Pienaarsrivier, a town near Limpopo, is now “free of reptiles” after reports that crocodiles were spotted when a river flooded the R101 bridge this weekend.

Police warned motorists of the R101 road closure after reports that a bridge had collapsed on Saturday due to heavy rainfall, leaving RDP houses and other residential areas in the vicinity flooded.

Limpopo police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe sent out a warning after residents reported seeing a number of crocodiles in the area.

Members of the police’s search and rescue unit, the K9 unit, disaster management, traffic and other emergency services covered the area, but no crocodiles were found, Ngoepe said.

“The area is free of any reptiles following an assessment [on Sunday] morning.”

Three crocodile attacks were reported in the Limpopo area this month.

The latest two incidents involved an elderly woman and a minor who were killed in the Thohoyandou cluster. A man drowned in the Mogol River outside Lephahale, which is populated with crocodiles and hippos.

In November last year, the body of a woman who went missing after being hauled into a river by a crocodile was retrieved from Mutshindudi River.

The crocodile dragged the 52-year-old into the water while she was collecting water.

Ngoepe added that the bridge had not collapsed, as initially reported.

Instead, it was flooded by rising water. The road was reopened on Sunday once the water level subsided.

“Everything is back to normal. Traffic is also flowing freely in the area.”

Several families were left homeless following extensive damage to their houses, with the water still knee-deep in some areas.

With the assistance of disaster management, many of the affected families evacuated their flooded homes.