Mayville Terrace washaway work ‘could have been avoided’
The municipality said it was not its problem as the break was on the complex's property.
Lagoon Point residents are up in arms after eThekwini Municipality failed to safeguard their complex after the Mayville Terrace washaway that resulted from the July storms.
They believe the R5-million repair job could have been avoided if the municipality had heeded their warning about a stormwater drain being blocked on Mayville Terrace before the heavy rain fell in the last week of July.
Resident Peter Clayton discovered the blocked drain when his dog fell into it. He contacted the municipality to alert them to the danger.
Nothing was done and after the first night of rain, a three cubic metre section of soil washed away due to the drain being out of commission.
After the heavy rain continued to fall, the whole bank, including a portion of the complex’s wall washed away on 26 July.
Repairs only commenced on Tuesday, 20 September after pressure was exerted on the city manager and mayor’s offices by ward 97 councillor, Andre Beetge.
“On Saturday, 17 September we told the municipality a telephone pole was in danger of falling on a remaining section of the wall and we suggested they cut it down,” said Lagoon Point trustee, Neil Kaufmann.
“They ignored our warning and when the next rain fell, the pole toppled over and took down another section of our wall, water meter and couplings for our fire hydrant.”
Between 10pm on the Saturday and 6am on the Sunday, the complex lost hundreds of kilolitres of water from the break in the water main.
The municipality said it was not its problem as the break was on the complex’s property and it was only sorted out after residents called in their own plumber.
“Our couplings, which are worth about R10,000, are lying under a collapsed section of the wall and the municipality refuses to break it up so that we can retrieve them.
At the moment we have no fire hydrants working, which leaves the building at huge risk.
We have to either buy new couplings or break up the wall to recover them, assess their condition and repair them if we can.”
The municipality has since dismantled the connection to the water main and redone it but with two visible leaks, which is costing residents more money.
The washaway continues to encroach on the complex’s property at an estimated rate of a metre a week and there is fear this may escalate should more rain fall before the restoration work is complete.
“We don’t know what more to do at this stage,” said Neil. “Our biggest concern is if a fire breaks out in the complex.”
The Sun sent queries to eThekwini Municipality regarding its refusal to cut down the telephone pole and break up the section of wall for residents to retrieved the couplings, but no response was forthcoming at the time of going to print.
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