April 2022 floods – a year later

IT HAS been a year since the heavy rains that started on April 8, 2022, and intensified over the next five days, led to floods that caused widespread damage to public and private infrastructure from Prospecton to Umkomaas and beyond.

Most of the damage occurred as a result of the 300mm of rain that fell every 24 hours until April 12, which triggered the automatic opening of the Shongweni Dam sluice gates, releasing millions of cubic metres of water into the Umlazi River and flooding Prospecton. The resulting carnage saw hundreds of millions of rands of damage done to the Porspecton shipping container depot, the Toyota plant, CTP Gravure, Sapref Refinery, South Africa Breweries, and many other companies.

Also watch: WATCH: Aftermath of KZN floods

In the Amanzimtoti CBD, the Amanzimtoti River burst its banks after it couldn’t breach into the ocean because of a sandbank. The ensuing flooding left many businesses on Commercial Road flooded and counting losses.
The Amanzimtoti Golf Course was also buried under several feet of mud, water, and other debris after the Ezimbokodweni River overflowed.

While some of the infrastructure was fixed gradually after the waters subsided, other amenities have remained inoperational for the past 12 months, including the Isipingo to Umkomaas railway line. This was after a section of the Illovo River Bridge was swept away and the N2 North partially collapsed near the Adams Road off-ramp, rendering the railway line unusable. The Illovo Bridge is currently under construction, and work has also started to upgrade and re-open the Isipingo to Amanzimtoti railway line.

eThekwini Municipality mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda, said that to aid the city’s efforts to rebuild, funding from the national government has been received. R1.2b was received to repair infrastructure for engineering-related services, R228m for water and sanitation, and R94m for housing.

Also read: Floods hit Prospecton industries hard

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