Repeat flood crisis strikes North Coast, leaves five dead
Although provincial and municipal teams still need to assess the full cost of the damage, it is expected to register in the tens, if not hundreds of millions of rands.
The North Coast is in the midst of its second flood crisis in two years.
At least five people have died as a direct result of flash flooding at the weekend, while widespread infrastructure damage has again taken place.
More than 100mm of rain fell over the course of a few hours during the peak of the storm on Saturday night and previously weakened infrastructure buckled under the pressure.
Hundreds of homes, roads and bridges were either partially or completely washed away, while years of repairs to infrastructure damaged during the 2022 floods have likely been set back.
Although provincial and municipal teams still need to count the full cost of the damage, it is expected to register in the tens, if not hundreds of millions of rands.
Photo: Jacqueline Herbst.
And that is just the impact on public infrastructure, which does not take into account the many households and businesses that will be forced to face repair and replacement costs on their own.
Trevor Simmadurai, the owner of One Stop Motor Spares and Accessories in central Tongaat, has dealt with damage from both floods and the 2021 riots.
When the Courier visited, his store was under a shroud of mud and everything kept waist height or lower was lost.
“With the damage to the store, loss of stock which will need to be replaced and loss of business while the store closes, I think it will cost me somewhere near R1-million,” said Simmadurai.
The neighbouring John Barber barbershop had much the same issue.
“The shop is completely messed. It will need to be repainted and retiled, while all the woodwork and countertops will need to be redone,” said barber Ali Mohamed.
Photo: Jacqueline Herbst.
In KwaDukuza’s Stanger Manor suburb, Reumel Saib woke up on Sunday morning to discover his retaining wall had collapsed into his neighbour’s property.
He cited a lack of proper drainage system maintenance as the main issue and expected to face a cost of around R300 000 for repairs to his home.
“I personally warned the KwaDukuza Municipality (KDM) about a blocked manhole on Primrose Street but nothing was done,” said Saib.
The manhole remained blocked during the weekend and did not provide any drainage to the flowing water, which instead came straight into his property.
Glenhills resident Keenan Gopal was trapped in his home on Saturday night and also blamed three blocked manholes for the damages to his home.
In Umdloti, familiar scenes battered the small town which has been among the worst affected over the past two years.
According to an Umdloti Smart Village report, there was less serious damage than during previous floods, but the repeatedly hit pump station will be temporarily out of service.
It will now be a long few months for municipal response teams as previously repair work underway will restart and new issues will need to be resolved.
KwaDukuza has so far struggled in the implementation of more than R1.2-billion in disaster funding to repair damages from the 2022 floods.
At the tabling of the adjustment budget in council last November, the civil engineering department revealed that just five of the 400 projects had been completed.
Around 94% of the budget for 2023/24, some R842-million, had still not been spent.
KDM did not respond to a request for clarity on damage to projects already underway.
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