Sandbank collapse concerns residents
eMDLOTI is no stranger to Mother Nature’s wrath, but residents fear the continual collapse of their main road could result in access to their homes being blocked.
The recent high seas along the coast affected part of North Beach Road in eMdloti.
The collapse was the latest in a string of collapses along North Beach Road. The previous collapse happened earlier this year and another last month.
Peter Hucklesby, who has lived in eMdloti for 10 years, said this was the first time he had seen such a collapse. He said if proper road maintenance had been done it would not have led to this situation. He felt the damage needed to be fixed urgently.
“It is a matter of time before the road disappears if they (the eThekwini Municipality) don’t do anything soon.”
He said he was concerned that the road would collapse and they would not be able to gain access to their homes.
Tim Bourne, another resident, said it was going to take a while before the road was fixed and feared that if it was left unattended, it would get worse. Bourne’s wife, Rachel, said other residents had shared similar sentiments on social media.
Zack Bayat, a beachgoer for 24 years, said: “When it is high tide, the water splashes the cars. I don’t park my car here on the road when it’s high tide. They have to make a structure that can accommodate the pressure of the water.”
Bayat said it made him sad to see the banks crumble and felt government should fix it. “We pay our taxes, after all”.
Bayat added that five years from now, the water might start affecting the residents’ houses as the erosion was part of na- ture.
Ward councillor Geoff Pullan said there was already construction further down the road where a bank collapsed earlier this year. With the recent collapse, Pullan said, he was going to apply for it to be fixed and hoped the process would be expedited because of the construction already in place further down the road.
He said the area had experienced 6m swells at the weekend and huge waves over the past few weeks. “It is one of those things. It is nature fighting back. It is a natural progression of things. This does not mean the city should let things be,” he said.
He added that the municipality would resolve the issue as residents were ratepayers and the coast was one of the key points of the municipality.
Godfrey Vella, the senior manager of the coastal engineering division, said the city was already working on repairing the damaged banks. The cause of the road collapse, he said, was the water hitting the banks and sucking the sand behind it, leading to the retaining wall collapsing.
To combat this, Vella said they had already started putting in geotextile sand containers. These sandbags weigh 3.5 tons and are about two by two metres in length and breadth and half a metre thick.
He said the bags were environmentally friendly and had already been implemented in Durban since 2007. There were plans to put them in other areas including eManzimtoti, eMkhomazi and uMhlanga. He said the bags had a long lifespan and could stay in place for more than 20 years.
Meanwhile, in Richards Bay, the John Ross Highway that links Richards Bay and Empangeni was reopened over the weekend after a possible burst water pipe caused a sinkhole.
Kenneth Kaunda, the MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, yesterday visited the sinkhole site.
“The damage caused on this road affected the economy of the province and that of uMhlathuze Municipality, because it disrupted traffic.
“But the department has taken extraordinary, but proper, measures towards repairing the road with speed.
“It is also important for us as the department to undertake a thorough assessment of all roads in the province, which may experience a similar chal- lenge, to avoid a similar experience.”
He said the department’s engineers assured them the road was safe to use temporarily.
The department believed the sinkhole could have been caused by burst water pipes underneath the road.