Residents of Umdloti, north of Durban, have had their hands full battling flooded roads and homes as rains continue in many parts of KwaZulu-Natal. Several houses also suffered water and sand damage.
Devlin Perry’s home was among those affected. He says he and his family are praying they do not suffer further damage.
“It is about being able to control exactly what the problem is here in ensuring that we don’t face incidents like this. We got a vehicle stuck on the road. The road is completely blocked. The towtruck that tried to get the vehicle out on the road is completely stuck now.”
“There are construction vehicles trying to pull it out managing the situation correctly to ensure this doesn’t happen again. I don’t want to see the houses going down. There is a block that is compromised in front of this house. We are extremely worried if this does continue. We are just hoping the rain can stop and the flood of the mud, sand can actually stop coming through [to] the house.”
SA Weather Service expects heavy rains to continue in KwaZulu-Natal:
Reports of drowning
Emergency teams are responding to reports that two people have been washed away while trying to cross a low-lying bridge at Lindelani in Stanger, north of Durban.
Medi Response spokesperson, Paul Herbst says, “Advanced search and rescue division together with SAPS and the canine search and rescue division is currently en-route to the Lindelani area in Stanger where it is believed that two people washed away in a low-level bridge. The rain is still coming down very hard making search conditions very difficult.”
Umhlatuzana KZN. #Floods pic.twitter.com/Y4cNDL6289
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) April 11, 2022
Possible flash floods
The South African Weather Service has issued a level five warning of flash flooding and poor visibility across the KwaZulu-Natal coast.
Persistent overnight rains led to some roads at Amanzimtoti along with the province’s south coast flooding.
Metro police spokesperson, Zama Dlamini says, “Caversham Road, Cliffdale Shongweni Road, Stapleton Road near Paradise Valley, also the N3 eastbound 50 meters before the old Dutch Road two lanes cordoned off by metro police.”
“On the N2 southbound before the old airport, a vehicle is on fire on the breakdown lane, Umdloti Isikulu building is about to collapse but our metro police are there in all these places to assist motorists.”-Additional reporting by Nonkululeko Hlophe
The video below is the full weather report:
