Floods hit Prospecton industries hard
Prospecton's big companies are still counting their losses after the heavy rains caused major floods in the area.
THE South Durban Industrial Basin has been hit hard by the recent heavy rains, with the damage expected to run into billions of rands.
ALSO READ: City opens community halls for residents affected by floods
The N2 road, Toyota, the Refinery Road container depot, and Sapref were among those hardest hit. On Wednesday, April 12, Toyota announced that operations at the plant were suspended after coming to a halt on Monday night due to flooding.
Responding to the announcement, the Motor Industry Staff Association (MISA) said it was devastated by the impact the flooding in Durban and surrounding areas will have on the retail motor industry that is still recovering from the blow of the Covid-19 pandemic. MISA’s CEO, Martlé Keyter, said the disaster at Toyota could not have struck the motor retail industry at a worse time.
“The motor retail industry can’t afford more retrenchments with the unemployment rate at 35.3%. MISA’s more than 53 000 members being dependent on motor vehicle- and component sales, vehicle services, and repair work,” said Keyter.
Traffic on the N2 in Prospecton was opened to traffic on Wednesday morning after being flooded on Monday night, but was congested soon thereafter with traffic coming to a complete standstill for hours. This negatively affected emergency services as all areas south of Durban were cut off and became inaccessible.
At Sapref Refinery, workers were airlifted from the plant after they were trapped inside by rising waters on Tuesday. Videos and photographs posted by staff on social media indicated that around 50 workers were rescued by helicopter after being trapped on the roof since 02:00.
President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the worse affected areas on Wednesday amid calls from several role players to the President to declare KwaZulu-Natal a disaster area and to deploy the South African National Defence Force to assist with rescue attempts.
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