Cape Town — KZN residents from the eThekwini municipality are concerned that the persistent rainfall plaguing the country will causes damage to their properties.
Ligh rain has continued to hit parts of KZN, with coastal cities such as Durban and Umhlanga severely affected. Tenants from a complex in Umhlanga are worried that the persistent rainfall will widen a home in the driveway, which would lead to further damage to the property, SABC News reported.
“That huge amount of water just kept dragging the soil with it all the way down because it’s very steep down to Marine Drive. So it just carried on until there was no more soil, we thought. But it’s just been non-ending. Everytime there’s a bit of rain there’s more soil going down, including the rubble and everything broken away – and we’re worried now that the actual building on this side is compromised,” Marie -Anne Kerdachi said.
The KZN government are in talks with the national government to declare the province a disaster area following damaging storms that have hit the area since December.
According to IOL, the first 15 days of 2024 have brought an average of 100mm of rainfall in KZN, with rainfall samples taken from 29 sampling points throughout the province, the South African Weather Services (SAWS) said in their latest reports. Earlier this week, SAWS issued a Level 5 weather alert, warning of possible flooding in coastal areas and low-lying settlements.
Authorities urged people to refrain from crossing bridges and using roads unnecessarily, as many motorways and low-lying bridges were overflowing. Emergency teams from the government and private companies were stretched thin, as rescue operations were needed across the province, with many reports surfacing about people getting washed away into rivers.
KWAZULU-NATAL DISASTER AND RAPID RESPONSE TEAMS ON THE GROUND AMIDST ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS IN THE PROVINCE
The Premier of KwaZulu-Natal Nomusa Dube-Ncube has commended the coordinated efforts by disaster and rapid response teams to avert disasters in the province as… pic.twitter.com/4aIhBfyQdj
— KZN Provincial Gov (@kzngov) January 17, 2024
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
