The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) says it will assemble a team of engineers to inspect its road network in Gauteng urgently to check for damage following Wednesday night’s flash flood. “In addition‚ the agency will appoint independent‚ reputable registered professional engineers with extensive experience in floods and storm water systems to investigate the extreme flooding‚ and to advise on any remedial actions‚” Sanral said in a statement.'Once-in-a-century storm' hit JoburgThe storm is not over - heavy rains and strong winds are expected around the country today. The parastatal responsible for the management‚ maintenance and development of the country’s national road network said its engineers conducting the first infrastructure survey would look for obvious signs of damage to roads and bridges and make sure they were safe for use.It said after a severe storm‚ there was potential for soil erosion or sinkholes opening up and these were closely monitored by the roads agency’s routine maintenance contractors. Should problems be observed‚ the affected portion of a highway would be closed at short notice. Sanral said the blocking of storm water pipes‚ culverts and bridges by homeless people was also increasingly becoming a problem. Although they are removed on a regular basis‚ the illegal structures are often reconstructed within a day or two of them being removed.Sanral said much of the Gauteng freeway network was built 40 years ago when land was predominantly agricultural land. Since then‚ the land around the freeway has been developed. It said water absorption of agricultural land was higher than areas that were built-up‚ as grass and soil absorbed water while asphalt and concrete did not. Sanral said its assistance units – On Road Services - had worked closely with emergency services from the metros and municipalities to help stranded motorists on Wednesday night. At least four people have been confirmed dead as the result of the flash sloods which affected the N3 in Linksfield and the R24 west. - TMG Digital..