Durban - Emergency workers are busy and Durban disaster management team is keeping watch on levels in rivers and streams as heavy rains flood homes and roads across the city.
There have been numerous reports of streets and houses being flooded in Durban and the city warned on Wednesday that as waters rise, more homes were at risk.
No reports of fatalities resulting from the floods have been reported, at least one woman has gone missing.
Kyle van Reenen, spokesman for Marshall Security said a 62-year-old woman was reported missing after her car was found in Glen Anil Street, Durban.
“It is believed the vehicle experienced mechanical breakdown during heavy rainfall. She last made telephonic contact at approximately 6pm and has not (been) heard from since,” he said.
He said sniffer dogs had been called in to assist with the search for the missing woman. Her phone, handbag and other personal belongings had been found.
eThekwini Ward 70 councillor, Ismail Cassimjee, told how he stood next to the missing woman’s son this morning, looking into the Silverglen River, while the search for her continued.
“This has broken me but then what must be going through this son’s mind. I pray that he is blessed with patience and strength at this very difficult time,” Cassimjee said
Municipal spokeswoman, Tozi Mthethwa, said the worst-affected areas included KwaMashu, where houses had been flooded, and people were being in accommodated in the local hall.
Mayor James Nxumalo advised residents to be cautious particularly on the roads.
“We advise community members to refrain from crossing low-lying bridges and to avoid streams. We are monitoring areas around the city that are prone to flooding,” he said.
Paramedics and the Road Traffic Management Corporation have also warned motorists to take extra care because heavy rains were set to continue over KwaZulu-Natal, bringing chaos to the province’s roads.
Emergency workers have reported multiple collisions and more were feared.
This comes as the South African Weather Service predicted continued snow in the mountains and the KZN Midlands, while heavy rains were forecast along the coast.
Several rivers in Durban were close to flooding late on Monday, while rush-hour traffic in the city was brought to a crawl yesterday as motorists navigated the treacherous conditions.
In Reservoir Hills, the Palmiet River burst its banks and flooded Quarry Road.
A number of roads in the city had themselves become rivers as stormwater drains failed to cope with the rain.
Low-lying areas to the south of Durban were particularly hard hit.
Two women were rescued from a flooded building in Kingsway Road in the eManzimtoti CBD on Monday, paramedics said.
“Paramedics found the first floor of the building flooded past waist height. They searched the first and second floors before finding the two women,” an ER24 spokesman said.
Ward 97 councillor, Andre Beetge, said as at 5pm on Monday, 132mm of rain had fallen over eManzimoti in 24 hours.
People in the area were mopping up today after the rains caused mudslides, collapsed walls and flooded an underground garage.
On Monday afternoon, several cars had to be towed out of a flooded road which pupils from Kingsway and Kuswag high schools use to get home.
The water was above windscreens, an observer said this morning.
About 200m further up the road, where workers had installed pipes a week ago, the road had partially collapsed, forcing motorists to take pains to avoid a hole.
Rains also opened a hole over a railway line bridge near the eManzimtoti CBD and caused an attractive entrance wall to a complex in Lewis Drive to collapse.
Parts of eManzimtoti were plunged into darkness when power went out for about four hours last night.
There was also widespread flooding in Isipingo.
And, according to an Umhlatuzana woman, who declined to be named, a retaining wall collapsed on an outbuilding in Umhlatuzana Township.
A woman, 36, had to be hospitalised. Her husband and 5-year-old son escaped with slight injuries.
A road nearby was strewn with debris from the collapse.
There was also flooding in Spine Road and on the M7 South Coast Road.
Flooding did serious damage to the home of a Chesterville, Durban, family on Monday.
Jabulani Shozi, who has been living in Road 3, Gwenya, with his family since 2010, said he had been returning from work when he received a call that his house was collapsing.
“When I reached home, the house was full of water. Everything has been damaged, and we are only left with the clothes we wore yesterday [Monday], before all of this happened,” said Shozi. His wife Dudu Shozi ,45, said: “I have been outside the whole night. I do not know what to do. It seems like my mind is not working, as we do not know where to start.”
In Malvern, a number of shops were flooded.
The KwaZulu-Natal Emergency Medical Services (EMS) evacuated an unconfirmed number of people on the South Coast late Monday night as flash floods threatened homes in Boboyi and uMzinto.
EMS spokesman, Robert Mckenzie, said emergency services were stretched to the limit on Monday.
He said many rescues were carried out on Monday night.
As yet, no fatalities have been reported.
There was heavy flooding in the Ilembe and Ugu District, with several rescues performed after cars washed away.
Mckenzie said a family was swept over a low bridge on the South Coast.
“They had to swim several kilometres down river to find a place to get to safety,” he said.
Inland, Mckenzie said salt brine applicators, graders, snow-blowers and ploughs had been placed at strategic points along the N3 Toll Route to assist with clearing the road surface in the eventuality of snow and/or the formation of black ice.
“Scouts have been placed at strategic points along the route to alert the Emergency Communication Centre of any problems which may arise; and rescue teams equipped with quad bikes and the necessary equipment are on standby to assist should road users be trapped,” Mckenzie said.
At Umhlali, on the North Coast, a security guard who had been looking after farming equipment had to be rescued with an inflatable raft from a tree, after water levels began rising around him.
Paramedics IPSS and SAPS K9 Search and Rescue said the man took shelter from the water in a nearby tree for nearly two hours before being rescued. The man was cold but well physically.
The M4 towards oThongathi was covered with sand near Beach Bums and, according to unconfirmed reports, the Town Hall was flooded.
In Shaka’s Kraal, a stream burst its banks near the Shaka’s Rock library and municipal offices, in Garden Road. Because of an electricity outage, most of the employees had left early and no workers were trapped.
Rescue Care Paramedics have had their hands full attending to a “marked increase” in collisions since the rains set in on Saturday night, said spokeswoman, Ceron Lennox.
She identified the following areas as crash hot spots:
- The M7 between the N2 and the N3;
- The M13 near the Westwood Mall; and
- The N2 north- and south-bound between Spaghetti Junction and the M7.
Lennox said a mudslide on the N2 near the M7 had caused “absolute chaos”, with vehicles crashing into others broken down on the freeway.
Emergency Control SA reported that the Tugela Toll Plaza had lost power and caused traffic chaos.
A generator was later used to get operations back in order.
Traffic going in and out of uMlazi was brought to a standstill for hours on Monday as flash flooding wreaked havoc on the roads.
uMlazi resident, Mpilo Xulu, said he left work in uMlazi just before 7pm and got stuck in traffic near the old airport into uMlazi.
Three hours later, the vehicle he was travelling in
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