Deluge wreaks havoc in South Durban

A DELUGE of rain over the Mother’s Day weekend caused mayhem as roads, the golf course fields and canals flooded, trees fell and a mud slide put homes in danger in King’s Rest Road.

The SA Weather Service estimated 124 millimetres of rain fell in the Durban South area, a shocking amount compared to the usual 50 millimetres.

King’s Rest residents woke up to a massive landslide on Sunday, 8 May caused by the rain reducing the stability of the bank. Much of the Bluff National Park Golf Course was under water, along with other large fields on the Bluff. The beaches also fared poorly, as debris and trash littered the shoreline. As usual, the heavy rain pushed pockets of trash in the canals downstream and the harbour was inundated.

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According to the Bluff Alliance’s Ivor Aylward, the weir along the canal that flows into the harbour near the Bluff Yacht Club was not functioning properly. Aylward has been fighting with municipal officials over the poor functioning of the weir for many years and is outraged that lack of improvement has again led to the harbour being polluted.

“The weir was boarded up this weekend allowing the trash to flow straight down the canal and into the harbour. How do they justify this? It is a huge environmental concern that we face over and over,” said Aylward.

When the Sun visited the area on Monday afternoon, however, the harbour appeared to be clear of debris.

Community Orientated Policing chairman, Rake Jeeves said the beaches were in a bad state with chemicals, debris, trash and other pollutants strewn along the shore. Surfers and other beachgoers were cautioned to stay clear of the water.

Motorists in the Montclair and surrounding areas were warned of flooded roads including South Coast Road, Solomon Mahlangu Drive (Edwin Swales VC) and Coedmore Road.

Local councillor talks about historical rain figures in Durban.

Many residents in the South Durban Basin spoke of pools overflowing and rising water threatening their homes. Locals took to social media over the weekend to post photos and stories of the rain in their areas and the damaged it caused.

Many did not let it ruin their day, however, with posts showing some using the flooded areas for makeshift skiing fun. And many more were thankful for the rain, especially during the longstanding KZN drought.

Water restrictions are set to continue as the rainfall deficit remains, despite the weekend’s downpour. According to the Umgeni Water Board the rain was localised to coastal areas leaving major catchments dry, among them Upper Mgeni.

The Hazelmere system received 100mm in the 72 hours from Friday to Sunday, 6 to 8 May, raising the water level by 1% to 44.6% capacity. The Upper Mgeni system recorded 24mm of rain in the same period and the Lower Mgeni system had 114mm. Umzinto had 144mm rainfall and there was 148mm in Amanzimtoti.

There has not been a significant increase in dam levels to end to the drought in the province.

The Umgeni Water Board added that predictions by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research are that the pattern of below average rainfall is expected to continue until the end of 2016.

Montclair’s Julie Meyer said the rain is always welcome but the only concern she had was the blocked drains that caused the flooding. “If municipality did its job in maintaining drains, there would not be so much flooding,” she said.

Meanwhile, the municipality’s emergency unit was overwhelmed with calls for help from residents across eThekwini.

“We have dispatched teams to most areas affected by the heavy rain. Our disaster management centre has also been activated to intervene in wards where people have been left destitute due to damage to their homes.

We are grateful for the rain in this time of drought. We encourage people to harvest as much rainwater as possible for use later. It is important, however, that we stay alert, especially motorists whot are using heavily flooded roads,” said mayor, Cllr James Nxumalo.

Call 031-361-0000 for emergency assistance.