Sixteen families left homeless by floods in Shayamoya and Nkobongo

Scores of residents were left injured and their houses damaged, while about 16 families, if not more, lost their homes between Shayamoya and Nkobongo during last week’s floods.

One of the victims was Mboneni Zondi, who with his partner Nozipho Maphumulo and their 13-year-old son were asleep last Monday night when one of the walls of their home collapsed on them.

“All I remember was hearing a very loud sound. When I opened my eyes, I felt the rain because it was streaming into the house. I did not see Nozipho at first, but then  realised she was trapped under the collapsed wall,” said Zondi.

He started panicking and phoned neighbours for help freeing Nozipho from the rubble.

They were all taken to the hospital and both father and son were released, but Nozipho is still in hospital in a critical but stable condition.

Another resident, Rebecca Ndlovu (67), was left with a house that moved about 1.5 metres off the foundation and she is unsure whether it will now hold up.

“It was a very scary experience while we fought to keep the water at bay from around 11am until 8pm. Eventually my nephew arrived and told me to come to his house because he feared we would drown.

“What was scarier was the sinkhole in my room right where my bed was. This means if I had gone to sleep, as I was planning to, I would have been dead or seriously injured,” said Ndlovu.

The domestic worker shares her dwelling with 4 children and 3 grandchildren and said she saved for 10 years to build her home. She is not sure what to do about her situation.

Former ward committee member in Nkobongo, Nokwazi Dludla, said she began receiving calls from people at around 10pm.

“It was difficult because the road coming into the township was flooded, so emergency people could not reach us. I kept on running from house to house. We had to leave some houses and return the next morning because there was no way we could help during the rain,” said Dludla.

“An injured woman had to be taken down a flooded road and we asked men to carry her across. Fortunately a taxi driver offered to take her to the clinic via some back routes. No nurses were on duty, however, and eventually she had to be rushed to the hospital in KwaDukuza. All praise to the brave taxi driver who came to her aid,” said Dludla.