A family in Fifth Avenue is battling to keep the water and rubbish out of their premises but is failing, especially since municipal officials are not heeding their calls to build gutters in the potholed street in Forderville.

Last Monday the family were in for a double shock when a water pipe burst, causing not only a flood of water in their driveway but also brought with it an array of rubbish, which is picked up from neighbouring streets.

Now the family has to contend with a large hole dug by Uthukela District Municipality staff to repair the burst pipe as well as the absence of proper guttering to channel water away from their yard.

“Every time it rains, the rain washes all the rubbish into our yard. Some of the gutters along Fifth Avenue are blocked and even though we have requested that the municipality clean these gutters and build new gutters where there aren’t any, we have not received a positive response from them,” said a resident who asked not to be named.