Deluge déjà vu for KZN flood victims
● Less than two years after the 2022 flood disaster in KwaZulu-Natal, Umdloti Beach resident Janelle Barnard found herself reliving the nightmare of torrential downpours earlier this month.
Barnard, 29, is one of many residents in the area facing hefty bills after her sea-facing property was flooded. She said it has cost more than R30,000 to clean up her home and replace the family’s generator and other items after a mudslide caused by the rain.
She said they were caught by surprise because there had been no warning of extreme weather.
“It was just an hour-and-a-half of heavy downpour and we saw there was so much water coming from the back. We had a little bit of muddy water coming inside the house and we thought it would pass.
“But all of a sudden, the house was flooded with mud water. It’s just unfortunate we [the Umdloti area] are still recovering from the 2022 floods, which caused serious damage. We are just an area trying to claw its way out from those floods and we get such a disaster as well,” said Barnard.
In 2022, several residents in apartment blocks on North Beach Road in Umdloti were evacuated due to flooding.
“Thank goodness not all the things were damaged in the house,” Barnard said.
“One expensive thing we did lose was our generator and with the ongoing loadshedding, it was a huge blow for us. Sadly, after the 2022 floods, insurance doesn’t cover us anymore. So we don’t get covered for floods and storms, and we have to pay from our pockets.
“With the persisting rainfall in the city, we live each day in fear that the worst could happen again,” she said.
About 10km from Barnard’s house a section of Chartwell Drive in Umhlanga collapsed, causing serious damage to properties and cutting water supplies to residents for more than a week. The road is still closed.
Spring Glades, a multistorey apartment block, suffered extensive damage, with its entire northern boundary wall collapsing. Two trees on the next-door property also fell over, hitting the building and causing minor damage.
Arthur Limbouris, chair of the Spring Glades board of trustees, said it appeared the stormwater drain couldn’t cope with the deluge — 115mm of rain fell in an hour.
“The ground floor northern apartment was badly affected by water and sand,” Limbouris said.
“We have already removed more than 800 tonne of sand and debris from the property that was washed down from Chartwell Drive. The sewerage line got damaged. One family with three people were affected and were forced to relocate.”
Limbouris said residents had established a committee to assess the damage and oversee repairs to the sewerage line.
“We are now heavily reliant on the municipality [to do repairs]. They have put out a tender document. The tender will be awarded to a company by early next week and they are estimating about 16 weeks of work. Once the stormwater drain and road have been repaired we can start with our boundary wall repair,” he said.
According to a report tabled by eThekwini city manager Musa Mbhele this week, infrastructure damage in the metro caused by the heavy rains between January 13 and 16 amounted to R1.4bn. Nine people died and 341 dwellings were damaged, which affected 1,413 more people.
The report said extensive structural damage occurred across residential structures, community halls, roads, stormwater infrastructure and public health facilities. It said the main cause of damage had been mudslides.
City mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said R999m was needed for engineering, R282.3m for human settlement, R1m for health facilities, R7.1m for parks & recreation and R118.8m for water & sanitation.
Co-operative governance & traditional affairs minister Thembi Nkadimeng has recommended that President Cyril Ramaphosa declare a state of disaster for specific parts of the province so that the National Treasury and other national departments can assist.