Kwazakhele residents mop up after heavy downpour
With floods wreaking havoc in Nelson Mandela Bay at the weekend, a Kwazakhele family says their frantic attempts to get help as their home on Budaza Street filled with water — damaging essential belongings — fell on deaf ears.
The family of four was among many picking up the pieces yesterday in the wake of the wide-scale destruction to their homes.
At the same time, unhappy about the claimed lack of assistance from the city’s disaster management, they and other residents directed sharp criticism at the municipality.
Panic-stricken as the heavy downpour fell on Saturday night, Andile Honono, 56, used a pickaxe to dig a shallow trench outside his Budaza Street home to slow the water flowing inside.
“The levels had risen 10 or 15cm,” Honono said.
“Our daughters, [aged five and eight], were waist-deep in the water and terrified.”
He said his wife, Nobambo, 44, scrambled in the dark to get the children to safety during load-shedding in the area from 6pm to 8pm.
To their relief, a neighbour, whose house was unaffected due to a boundary wall, took in the children for the night.
The Hononos, who invited a Herald team to view the damage at their four-room house, said the assistance disaster management promised never materialised. After contacting and speaking to someone, Nobambo sent a municipal employee several videos showing the scale of the floods.
“But they still incorrectly sent a fire truck to extinguish a [non-existent] fire at our home, which was perplexing,” she said.
“The municipality failed to assist.
“Ultimately, we struggled on our own to try rid the water from inside our house.”
Honono said: “Firefighters got here and once we told them there was no fire, they left abruptly.
“The water levels were rising frighteningly.
“We needed them to drain it before it rose even higher.
“Eventually, I found a pickaxe from a neighbour and dug a trench, which is the only thing which helped.”
Firefighters left a few minutes later, notifying the family they could not help them battle the water.
Honono said a large stormwater drain about 250m away was also a cause for concern.
A tractor-loader-backhoe (TLB) was used late on Sunday to move a large slab covering it and to remove built-up rubble. “We feel dejected. “These floods were caused as a result of drains not being cleaned.
“The drain was overflowing, showing it hadn’t been cleaned for some time.
“If there was constant drain cleaning, it would avoid widescale flooding.” In Meke Street, a family of seven also noted their concern over the drain less than 50m from their home, which they said was overwhelmed during the heavy rains.
This caused their five-room RDP house to flood, causing damage to perishables, furniture and clothes.
Suliwe Maqungo, 38, said they contacted a ward councillor, who agreed to help, but never showed up.
She said staple foods, including rice, mealie meal and flour, were swept away at about 8am on Sunday when the family awoke and opened the front door.
The family spent the night with relatives three streets away, in Mase Street, and needed to cram inside the residence already housing five members.
“We contacted the councillor, telling him we were in trouble.
“He committed to come,” Maqungo said.
“He should have had the decency to come see our plight.
“We went without food on Sunday and are appealing to the municipality for assistance.”
Municipal communications director Sithembiso Soyaya did not respond to a request for comment at the time of going to print.
Several attempts to reach the councillor were also unsuccessful.