Better maintenance could have reduced flooding in Nelson Mandela Bay — business chamber

The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber said that clean stormwater drains and better municipal infrastructure maintenance would have significantly reduced the impact of widespread flooding in the metro on Tuesday.

“Flooding has had a wide impact across the metro, with communities in low-lying areas most severely impacted. The continuity of business operations has been affected across most parts of the metro,” said business chamber CEO Denise van Huyssteen on Tuesday.

“Our view is that a lot of the damage during flooding or heavy rains can be limited if stormwater drains are regularly cleaned and alien vegetation is removed from rivers.”

The Markman area was severely affected due to its poor infrastructure. Businesses in Neave/Korsten, Perseverance, Baakens Valley, Kariega, Newtown Park and Deal Party were damaged and disrupted.

Four businesses in North End and one in Deal Party were flooded, while 90% of manufacturers in Struandale were unable to operate because of a power outage which kicked in at 3am, said Van Huyssteen. It was the second power outage in the area since Saturday and, said Van Huyssteen, was unrelated to the floods.

There were widespread power failures in several areas. One of the flooded substations in the metro was Greenbushes, which can be seen here.

On Tuesday night, the power in large parts of Kariega was still off after a transformer in a flooded substation blew up.

Read more: Residents evacuated as dams overflow, rivers burst banks in latest flooding in Kariega

High absenteeism levels

“According to 78 businesses polled by the chamber across the metro, 81% have been affected by the floods, with 62% reporting high absenteeism levels. A further 35% have reported that their facilities have been flooded, with Markman, Perseverance and Kariega being the hardest hit,” said Van Huyssteen.

“High absenteeism has been widely reported as a major issue across most businesses in the metro, with many manufacturers running limited operations or skipping shifts.”

Van Huyssteen said the taxi industry could not access many flooded roads to transport employees to work.

The Nivens Bridge over the Swartkops River in Nelson Mandela Bay on Tuesday. (Photo: Deon Ferreira)

Graham Taylor, the spokesperson for the Markman Business Forum, said collapsed stormwater drains had contributed significantly to extensive and damaging flooding in the area.

Georgen Miggels, the ward councillor for the Lapland informal settlement, said that after the floods in June, delays in resettling the community in safe, temporary housing had led to more than 100 people being evacuated again on Tuesday. The community was meant to move to a safer area in Kariega in July, but there have been delays in the construction of temporary structures for them.

Read more: After seven weeks of empty promises, Kariega flood victims still cry when they see clouds

Eileen Leander from the Aloes community said they were trapped for the whole of Tuesday. Their settlement was flooded by water running off the mountain and from the overflowing Markman Canal and Swartkops River. On Tuesday afternoon, broken sewerage pipes flooded the area with sewage.

A flooded house in Lapland, Kariega, Nelson Mandela Bay (Photo: Deon Ferreira)

In July, Nelson Mandela Bay Executive Mayor Gary van Niekerk promised that work to make the Kariega canal safer would start within weeks, but there was no sign of such work on Tuesday.

Van Niekerk, senior disaster management officials and Stag Mitchell, the mayoral committee member for safety and security, were out all night on Monday and Tuesday to monitor the situation in Kariega and initiate evacuations where necessary.

The South African Weather Service issued another Level 6 warning for disruptive rain on Tuesday night. DM