Durban - THE aftermath of the devastating floods has left the Naidoo family from Springfield in Durban in a complete shock and dismay.
However, despite the negative impact of the floods, they are grateful to be alive.
In an interview with the Sunday Tribune, 24-year-old Preolan Naidoo described how he survived on Monday night.
He said he was still shocked and traumatised by his ordeal, but was grateful his family survived.
"It is unbelievable. My granny was trapped, I was being hit with boulders. She was stuck inside. All that mattered was getting her out. We didn't care about things. The flooding was so bad that we couldn't get out of the property.
“Two guys from another area swam to our rescue. One guy helped me to carry my granny out of the house. We prayed for the electricity to trip because we were shocked while in the water. We managed to save my granny and we had to put her over the fence into the neighbour's yard.”
Naidoo added: “This entire place was a river. We're used to heavy rains but not with such devastating impact. Everything happened so quickly. It has been devastating but I am grateful that we are alive. Material things can be replaced, not our lives.”
The house was severely damaged, littered with sand and debris and with the furniture and cars still inside.
His father, Calvin, lamented the ordeal, saying he did not have insurance on the house.
"We did not forsee any danger as we have been living in this house for decades.
“It's my 80-year-old mom's home. We are pioneers of this area. When the 1949 riots happened my grandfather was moved here. It took a lot of hard work and money to have and keep this home and we cannot salvage anything.
“We're sitting with thousands of rands’ worth of damage. I cannot salvage one piece of furniture from the house. When this happened all we could do was run out with the clothes on our back.”
They were in a state of panic.
“The roads were gushing with water. As we came out we heard a loud noise and that was it. My entire house is full of debris. Sand is reaching almost to the top of the house and we cannot enter. We are currently living with family but we don't know what to do going forward.”
SUNDAY TRIBUNE