The Toti River mouth was breached north of the weir at about noon on Thursday morning, 9 July under the watchful eye of eThekwini beach manager, Mike Chiazzari and ward 97 coucillor, Andre Beetge, after permission was granted by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife officers.
Officials conducted an early morning assessment regarding the necessity of breaching the river mouth after Civic Road flooded for most of the week due to the river level rising.
“We’ve been an eye on the rising level of the water after the rain in the week when the water pushed back into the stormwater pipes along Commercial Road,” said Cllr Beetge.
At noon he and Chiazzari open a 20cm breach using two spades. The Sun was on hand to witness the widening of the breach at about 1.30pm when it was about 3m across, which quickly grew to about 20m by 2pm. By 2.30pm the Toti River and lagoon were empty of water.
The river was last artificially breached in January.
