Durban storm destruction could rise to R1bn

THE Durban Chamber of Commerce, through an insurance company, has estimated that damage from this week’s storm to infrastructure incurred by businesses in KwaZulu-Natal was between R400m and R500m including uninsured losses.

The eventual cost of storm damage could get close to R1bn.

Co- operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Des van Rooyen visited the province yesterday to assess the state of the damage and attended the city’s media briefing.

Van Rooyen said people he had spoken to in Isipingo, south of Durban, had told him the storm was unlike anything they had ever experienced.

“We mourn those who have lost their lives in this disaster and sympathise with those who have suffered devastation. We still have some citizens unaccounted for and encourage rescue teams to ensure that those who are unaccounted for are found.

“We’re grateful that emergency services have proved to be up to the task.”

Van Rooyen said people should not be deceived by the heavy rains that fell this week because “we are not yet out of the woods”.

He said the devastation was a reminder of the importance of their work and urged cities to ensure they were resilient enough to deal with disasters.

The city’s head of disaster management, Vincent Ngubane, said private residences, municipal houses and flats had felt the brunt of the storm.

Ngubane was speaking on the sidelines of this year’s International Day for Disaster Reduction in Durban.

Ngubane said the storm and floods had not had a major impact on the city’s beaches. Debris from streams and rivers had made its way onto the beaches and the parks department was busy with the cleanup efforts.

“None of the infrastructure on the beaches was destroyed apart from Isipingo, where there’s been some damage.

“The storm hit the areas of Isipingo, Bluff, Montclair and parts of uMlazi the hardest.

“In the Bluff area, going down towards Isipingo in the south, those beaches are no-go areas because there is still a lot of work that has to be done,” Ngubane said.

Some areas around the city have also been severely affected by power outages resulting from the storm, but Ngubane said electricity had been restored in certain areas.

“There are teams from the electricity department that are out in areas affected by power outages, particularly in the north of the city.

He said municipal electrical teams were working around the clock to ensure that electricity was restored as soon as possible.

PICTURE: LEON LESTRADE/ANA Much still needs to be done to clean up the region after it was hit by a storm on Tuesday.