Heavy rains leave trail of destruction in northern KZN

Heavy rains leave trail of destruction in northern KZN

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) said a storm in Nongoma on Friday left a trail of destruction causing damage to houses, schools, community halls, churches and Eskom power lines.

The incident follows other storm incidents that have caused destruction in KZN since the beginning of the year.

KZN Cogta said the provincial disaster management teams have been conducting assessments in Nongoma to determine the extent of the damage.

“Preliminary reports suggest that eight wards were severely affected.

A total of 78 houses were damaged, with three completely destroyed. This affected over 600 people. At this stage, no fatalities or injuries have been reported.”

KZN Cogta added that three classrooms at Nhlanhlayethu Secondary School were also affected.

“The structures of the church and community hall were damaged as the roofs were torn apart by the storm.

Eskom power lines in five wards were damaged. A water scheme pump station was also damaged, causing interruptions in the water supply in some areas.”

Earlier in February, KZN Cogta reported that one pupil was killed and another two injured after they were struck by lightning on their way back home from school in Dannhauser under the Amajuba District in northern KZN.

The storm also caused damage to houses and power lines.

Nongoma mayor Clifford Ndabandaba said that the damage in Nongoma had been severe and the storm had left several people in need of assistance.

He said the damage to the power lines had been reported to Eskom.

“We are still conducting assessments on damage and will update further.”

The South African Local Government Association (Salga) KZN said help was needed.

“In the wake of the devastating floods that swept through KwaZulu-Natal in January 2024, over 360 houses were destroyed, and 836 homes were partially damaged. At least 6155 individuals were displaced or impacted by the natural disaster.”

Salga KZN added that the death toll stood at 58, while six people were still missing.

It said while several areas were classified as disaster areas after the January storm by Cogta, it feared that the response might not be comprehensive enough to address all the challenges that the affected municipalities faced.

“Some municipalities are already incurring expenses to repair and reconstruct damaged infrastructure, particularly roads, water and sewage systems, and evacuating residents comes at a high financial cost.”

Professor Tafadzwa Mabhaudhi, honorary professor from the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Science, said the heavy rains being experienced in Nongoma were not unusual at this time of the year.

“We are still in our summer season and forecasters still expect heavy rains to occur in several places.

“The localised flooding being experienced in some parts is due to the fact that we still have high soil water content and nearly saturated soils in several parts of KZN due to the heavy rains in December and the first weeks of January.

“This increases the likelihood of localised flooding occurring in low-lying areas. This coupled with poor drainage and a degraded environment increases the risk.”

Dr Hope Hangwelani, of the UKZN School of Built Environment and Development Studies, said that there needed to be more maintenance and repairs of infrastructure to prevent more damage.

“There has been a lot of heavy rain but unfortunately repairs and maintenance have not been keeping up at the same pace, and that’s why there is so much damage when there is rain.

“We need new parts to replace dysfunctional parts and expansion in infrastructure due to the growing population.”

The Mercury