ETHEKWINI Municipality is counting the costs of the damage caused across the city in last week’s torrential downpours and gale force winds. At a special meeting of the Executive Committee this week, Vincen Ngubane, head of the Disaster Management Unit announced that the estimated cost of the damage was around R300 million. The meeting also discussed future plans to expedite assistance and imporve the city’s response time during disasters.
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At the meeting, future plans to expedite assistance and improve the City’s response time during disasters was also discussed.
Vincent Ngubane, head of the Disaster Management Unit presented the report to members of the Executive Committee.
He said the beginning of October marked the start of the summer and storm season adding that since the beginning of the month the Municipality had experienced inclement weather conditions. This had resulted in damage to shopping malls, CCTV fibre routes, roads, bridges and houses, with electricity, water and sanitation affected as well as injuries and the loss of lives through drowning.
Ngubane said 2 934 households were affected by the weather last week with assessments still ongoing in parallel with relief interventions to affected communities.
Regarding fallen trees, Ngubane said tree feller teams from the Parks, Recreation and Culture Unit had attended to 230 trees with three staff members working on a 24-hour standby roster.
“Calls were also received regarding roads and storm water with 724 calls regarding blocked inlets received, 54 calls regarding landslides, 67 calls about damaged roads and 135 calls regarding potholes received. Furthermore, 52 calls about missing manhole covers were received with 49 calls about road closures and roads that had washed away.”
Ngubane also listed major damage incurred to 22 roads in the South and South Central regions.
“The bulk of this work is routine maintenance work and the cost is covered by the operating budget. Most of the work is expected to be completed in two weeks. Councillors are being consulted on the nature and extent of the repairs that are necessary. A programme of work will be prepared when the full extent of the damage is known,” he added.
During his presentation Ngubane also provided detail on affected areas regarding water and sanitation and whether supply had been restored and the estimated cost of repairs for each repair work which totals R2.3 million.
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Work to be undertaken by the Electricity Unit was also outlined. The Human Settlements Unit has planned interventions amounting to R250 million. This includes subsidies for housing to be provided by the Department of Human Settlements to the value of R194.7 million and assisting informal settlements with the construction of semi-temporal structures of prefabs for R13.37 million.
Ngubane said the Cleansing and Solid Waste Unit had a number of affected depots with the estimated cost to repair damages amounting to R1.39 million.
