A rockfall damages Umgeni Water’s Durban Heights treatment plant

Umgeni Water says that a rockfall due to the storms was responsible for the damage at its Durban Heights Water Treatment Plant. This has led to water shortages across the City and its surroundings.

At this stage, it remains unclear when water will be restored. The eThekwini Municipality says tankers are being dispatched.

Umgeni Water spokesperson Shami Harichunder says, “Two aqua ducts at Umgeni Waters from Nagle Dam to Durban Heights water treatment plant are severely damaged. This occurred in the vicinity of Inanda. The damage that was closed is as a result of a massive rockfall close to Molweni in Inanda. Two pipelines are still out of use and this is still causing a shortage of water supply to the Durban heights water treatment plant.”

The video below is on the water shortage:

KZN floods classified as a provincial disaster

The Department of Co-operative Governance (COGTA) in KwaZulu-Natal has appealed to people, whose homes were damaged and washed away by floodwaters to refrain from immediately returning to disaster-stricken areas.

The floods experienced in KZN have been classified as a provincial disaster – with over 300 people known to have died.

KZN COGTA MEC Sipho Hlomuka says residents are urged to be patient as rescue teams provide relief.

“Currently, in what we are facing, we can say that the disaster management teams are stretched to capacity across the province. We are working with a number of stakeholders and NGOs to ensure there is relief that is rendered to as many people as possible within a short space of time. We call on communities to stand together and evacuate areas that are unsafe and seek higher shelter and not immediately return to those areas as some of the ground is not safe in some areas. So our teams are doing the best they can in these circumstances,” says Hlomuka.

VIDEO: KZN Floods – Death toll rises to 306, Nozintombi Miya is at the old airport precinct near Umlazi