By Charmaine Slater
Bedfordview residents fear that history will repeat itself this year should the area be hit by heavy rains. Again concerns were raised that inadequate maintenance of stormwater systems in Bedfordview will result in flooding.
On November 9 last year, large parts of Bedfordview and Edenvale were left devastated by flash floods.
Much of the damage caused was determined to be a direct result of unmaintained stormwater systems.
Just days before the floods, ward 20 councillor Jill Humphreys warned that blocked stormwater channels would lead to disaster.
One of the hardest-hit Bedfordview properties belongs to the Alexander family, who live along Selwyn Road.
A massive section of the family’s property washed away during the floods.
The Alexander family were warned that if they did not re-enforce the boundary wall to their property, their house could easily wash away.
The family brought in independent engineers who noted a number of problems with the stream which flows next to the family’s boundary wall.
But, after spending in excess of R1.4-million to secure the property’s boundary wall, there is still no guarantee that renovations will help, should the area flood again.
In January this year, the last of some 120 tonnes of concrete was poured to complete the re-enforcement of the wall.
Since then the family along with their neighbours have spent thousands of Rands out of their own pockets to ensure that the river is cleared and their properties are secured.
Retaining gabions along the stream collapsed during the flooding and the family warned the municipality that should the situation not be remedied and the river cleared of rubble, the area would flood again.
In January this year the NEWS reported that ward 19 councillor Bill Rundle supported the family.
Rundle said the main problem in the area was a lack of maintenance of the waterway for over 20 years.
“Also adding to the problem was that the volume capacity of the 90-degree bend had been reduced to less than 20 per cent, due to the collection of silt and debris,” Rundle said.
According to Humphreys, on many days the water in the stream is stagnant as a result of blockages.
In addition to renovations, the Alexander family and their neighbours removed silt from the river to ensure that water flows freely.
She informed the NEWS that council employees were on site recently to clear the river way, but despite an enquiry to council from the NEWS, this could not be confirmed.
“If municipality actually did maintenance of its stormwater channels, such as cleaning, clearing, erosion control, silt traps, cleaning of litter, litter traps and attenuation ponds, the residents would not have to manage all these omissions on their own,” Humphreys said.
In recent questions to officials, Humphreys referred to a judgement of the High Court handed down regarding the damage to factories in Edenvale by the non-remediation of the Eastleigh Spruit.
As a result of the floods, Eastleigh was declared a disaster area by the Gauteng Provincial Government on December 1.
Businesses adjacent to the river had to re-enforce their foundations.
In the judgement it states that despite a court order, Ekurhuleni has done nothing to rehabilitate the river and to clean the bridge.
“As our metro rubber-stamps densification, frequently in direct contradiction of its own policies, our infrastructure simply cannot keep up. Desperate and dedicated officials struggle and juggle daily to manage the impossible; their hopelessly under-resourced departments limping along, frequently not achieving ridiculously low KPIs,” said Humphreys.
The NEWS sent two separate enquiries to the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) last week, focusing on the maintenance of stormwater systems and clearing of debris from the stream behind Selwyn Road.
The enquiries were sent on October 3 and October 4 and comment was requested by October 6.
At the time of going to print, no comment had been received.
