Ward 66 councillor, Duncan Du Bois recorded a mammoth 318mm of rain at his Grosvenor home between Friday evening and Monday morning.
“Although washaways have occurred on parts of the Bluff and drains were swamped in places, I did not receive any reports of major damage or problems, unlike the misfortunes of many other parts of the metro,” said Du Bois.
“What is interesting is that the heavy rainfall at this time of the year is not unusual. Since records have been kept, most of the serious flooding that has occurred in the province has been during the so-called drier seasons. The first was in April 1856 when 546mm of rain deluged our coast. In late August 1868, there was a downpour of 254mm.
In terms of wind ferocity, hail, rain and snow, the worst storm ever to have struck was on 31 May, 1905 and lasted until about 3 June when 398mm of rain was recorded on the coast, while inland as far as Newcastle, snow covered the province.
In July 1917 our coast had 262mm of rain. There were severe floods in May 1959 which saw several bridges on the South Coast washed away. Similarly in August 1976 and September 1987 when the John Ross bridge over the Tugela was swept away. Locally, the bridge over the Lovu River had its centre supports washed away in those same years.
These historical facts prove that unseasonal flooding has nothing to do with climate change.”
