Durban – The eThekwini Municipality expects all of Durban’s beaches to be opened by Friday.
Beaches near the CBD and north of the city were badly damaged by big waves on Sunday.
The waves crashed over the promenade at North Beach.
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Co-operative Governance said it was on “high alert” after the incident. Beaches from Battery Beach to uShaka Marine World have been reopened to the public, but those in Durban North are still closed.
The city has worked this week to clear wreckage and debris from the beaches.
Head of Parks and Recreation, Thembinkosi Ngcobo, said on Wednesday that they had acquired more earth-grading vehicles to speed up the cleaning process.
“We haven’t started reconstruction of the infrastructure. We are waiting for the cleaning to finish.”
The Mercury’s sister newspaper, The Daily News, reported on Tuesday that the cost of the damage could run into the millions.
Ngcobo said there were no shark nets at the beaches north of Durban.
“They will be opened once the nets are installed.”
Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs spokesperson Musa Mayisela said they were ready to respond should the need arise.
“We are monitoring the situation and will pull out all the stops to prevent the loss of lives.”
But weather forecaster Julius Mahlangu said on Wednesday that it was unlikely that a similar incident would happen soon.
He did say, however, that seas were particularly rough in the East London area.