ETHEKWINI Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda has urged residents to be patient as the municipality is working quickly to restore key services following heavy rain at the weekend.
Kaunda visited Umdloti to assess the extent of the damage caused by the downpour which damaged homes, roads, and other infrastructure in the North Coast community, especially in Umdloti.
“We had to prioritise visiting Umdloti given the severity of the damage in this area. Our water treatment plant has been damaged and this will affect our ability to provide water to residents in this area,” Kaunda said.
He said municipal emergency services remained on high alert, even though the intensity of the rain in most areas of eThekwini has now subsided.
“Various municipal teams are working round the clock to assist communities and to restore key services,” Kaunda said.
The mayor said about 190 people were evacuated, and reported that teams had to evacuate some residents overnight, as the rain continued to damage the city.
“Rain gauge and river level analysis were undertaken continuously to identify vulnerable and high-risk areas. Most rainfall was experienced over north and central areas of eThekwini with Bluff, and Umdloti receiving high levels of rainfall.
“A family in ward 40 was evacuated to Kwa-Nozaza temporary mass care centre after their house collapsed. About 190 people were relocated from Tehuis to SJ Smith Hall. Mattresses and blankets were provided as a temporary relief,” Kaunda said.
He said there have been several outages throughout the city caused by the heavy rain, however, many of them have since been attended to.
“The Water Treatment Works in Umdloti was flooded. Areas such as Mosely Park, Gillitts and KwaNdengezi are also affected by water outages. We are still assessing whether these heavy rains had an impact on the work we had already started in oThongathi,” the mayor added.
