THE South Coast was pummelled by powerful gusts of wind that accompanied a storm system on Saturday afternoon, 16 September.
Power outages, water cuts, damaged buildings and fallen trees are some of the many devastations that the council and disaster teams are tackling.
The Durban-KingShaka weather office recorded Saturday afternoon’s winds travelling at a scary 56km/h and gusting at 111km/hr.
In the greater Amanzimtoti, a Kingsway business premises in Warner Beach had its roof ripped off, while the Toti Ranch experienced similar problems. Roof damage was the order of the day largely, with another building in Athlone Park seeing roof tiles lifted and in Doonside’s Main Road an awning one storey up was ripped from its supports.
Many residents all over Amanzimtoti were affected by the extreme weather and found themselves unable to report weather-related outages of both electricity and water due to damage which left the municipality’s phone lines out of order.
Cllr Andre Beetge stepped in and made contact with the deputy mayor, city manager and acting head of electricity to convey information about the local outages, as the call centre could not be reached. He relayed the outages to the faults teams himself in an attempt to restore normality to those affected in ward 97.
The Amanzimtoti Fire Department was not called out to attend any cases.
The councillor reminded residents that the municipality’s typical reaction time is 24 hours from the time of an outage being logged. However, that waiting time increases significantly in times of a crisis.
“While I have sympathy for the entire situation, there is only so much one can do when the demands are so many,” said Cllr Beetge.
He urged residents to remain calm and have regard for the facts that such a crisis has far-reaching consequences. “There is really no justification to shout, swear, threaten or insist that a particular case be considered more deserving than the other. Take a deep breath and exercise patience while officials attempt to get the work done.”
Further afield, the Lower South Coast also faced damage when it was lashed by the strong winds on Saturday afternoon. The offices of the Sun’s sister newspaper in Port Shepstone were affected when roof sheeting tore off in the afternoon.
North of Amanzimtoti, several warehouse structures in Prospecton bore the brunt of the wind, with wall sheeting being torn off, leaving gaping holes by Sunday morning.
In Durban harbour, a 28-ton crane was toppled by the gusting wind and in the Durban CBD, part of a building’s roof and underpinnings came crashing down into the street.
Taking stock of the heavy rain and strong gale force winds, the KZN Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) mobilised disaster management teams across the province.
KZN MEC for Cogta, Nomusa Dube-Ncube said these teams had logged and responded to several incidents in Ugu, eThekwini and Ladysmith, which impacted on both public infrastructure and private property. The interim assessments revealed that houses had roofs blown away, trees topped over and blocked roads and damaged property and vehicles. At least three people were reported to be critically injured and were admitted to hospital. No deaths were known to have been caused.
“All reported incidents are being attended to promptly by our disaster management teams. We are still assessing the long-term impact of damages to roads, public infrastructure and facilities as well as private properties and we continue to offer assistance to all concerned,” said Dube-Ncube.
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