VARIOUS stakeholders met to discuss the harrowing experience of the night of the floods on April 11.
The meeting was held in the pouring rain on Saturday, May 21 at the Palmiet River Valley Conservancy with specialists speaking briefly about the importance of land and rivers and water, biodiversity and fish migration.
Among the panel was West and East Quarry Road Informal Settlement residents, Menzi Mthethwa and Nomandla Nqanula, who spoke about the devastation that their community faced.
Warned days in advance of the impending floods by the Palmiet River Watch (PRW) Flood Alert group, Mthethwa spoke about how the community had to be convinced to abandon their homes, and how they stood in the pouring rain, watching as hundreds of their houses were washed away, and in some cases, all their belongings.
“Our belongings swept down the Palmiet River like a row of train carriages, clattering and smashing together, and had we not been warned, hundreds of people would have died,” he said.
Recalling the night, Nqanula said they all held hands and crossed fast-moving floodwater to safety, sliding their feet on the ground so they did not get swept away.
“With no communications, some of us sought for shelter at a service station. We waited for the morning light to return, to see what had happened to our friends and families,” said Nqanula.
Lee D’Eathe, founder and champion of the Palmiet River Watch, said he was relieved that advance warnings and live information from the upstream members 20km upstream had saved the lives of the Quarry Road Informal Settlement.
Established on 17 October 2018, out of concern for the community settled in the floodplain, subject to flooding from rising water from the Palmiet, uMzinyathi and uMngeni Rivers, the Palmiet River Watch members, from all the way to the top of the Palmiet Valley, 20km upstream, provide warnings and live reports.
“On the night in question, the final outcome was a miracle. The communities’ lives were literally in the hands of God,” he said.
D’Eathe recalls the suggestions, as the riverbank and several rows of homes were being swept away, that trees be planted along the edge of the riverbank at Quarry Road Informal Settlement.
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