Nelson Mandela Bay counts flooding costs — three dead, 3,000 displaced, electricity and sewage systems down

A collapsed wall in Jubilee Park, Kariega, Nelson Mandela Bay. (Photo: Deon Ferreira)

23 Oct 2024

Three people were found dead, 3,000 have been displaced, a major sewage plant in Kariega has stopped working and electricity remains off in large parts of the metro as the municipality on Wednesday began counting the cost of two days of torrential rain.

The police are investigating after three people were found dead in the floods that hit the Nelson Mandela Bay metro on Monday, 21 October 2024.

Executive Mayor Gary van Niekerk said they could now confirm three fatalities, but investigations into the circumstances continued.

Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane visited the family of an elderly man who was electrocuted in his house in Meke Street, Kwazakhele, on Wednesday. The 75-year-old, Nkuleleko Gqomo, died trying to unplug an appliance in his flooded house.

nelson mandela bay floods A flooded house in Lapland, Kariega, Nelson Mandela Bay. (Photo: Deon Ferreira)

nelson mandela bay floods lapland kariega A resident of Lapland, Kariega, Nelson Mandela Bay, leaves his flooded home. (Photo: Deon Ferreira)

nelson mandela bay floods Gift of the Givers team leader Mario Ferreira helps residents from Lapland in Kariega, Nelson Mandela Bay, after they were evacuated to a church hall when their homes were flooded. (Photo: Deon Ferreira)

In the Vastrap informal settlement, 51-year-old Bukelwa Ndima was killed after coming into contact with a suspected “illegal” electricity connection.

On Wednesday, the municipality sent out an urgent message to communities not to allow children to swim close to power lines.

Van Niekerk said on Wednesday that 3,000 people had been displaced and 19 shelters across the metro had been set up to accommodate them.

“As a short-term measure, the National Department of Human Settlements is expected to deploy three officials today to conduct the necessary assessments before exploring options to relocate the affected people to more decent and humane temporary emergency areas. Funds are being sourced to provide temporary structures until the residents are permanently moved, with time frames subject to budget availability,” he said.

MEC for Human Settlements Siphokazi Lusithi confirmed that the Department of Human Settlements was building temporary housing in Kariega.

“The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure has donated parcels of land to the municipality where we will continue to put other temporary residential units if we are talking about the Motherwell area, and then that’s where the housing development for the informal settlements will be developed,” she said.

Power outages

Meanwhile, electricity in large parts of Kariega remained off for a third day as teams worked on the Tollgate substation, which was badly damaged by the floods.

“The municipality is working to restore electricity in parts of the metro affected by the heavy rains. Ongoing assessments of damage to infrastructure continue,” Van Niekerk said.

The Greenbushes substation was almost submerged by floodwaters and Van Niekerk said they needed to start “vacuuming” the water before they could assess the damage.

The heavy rains and power outages have also affected the Kelvin Jones wastewater treatment works.

“The municipality is currently working on restoring power and securing a backup generator as an emergency solution,” Van Niekerk said.

He said they had begun cleaning stormwater drains and flooded streets across the metro. Municipal spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya said they had been cleaning stormwater drains “daily” before the flood, but now had to begin again as they would have been filled with debris.

The MEC for Cooperative Governance, Zolile Williams, questioned this during his visit to the area.

nelson mandela bay floods A collapsed wall in Jubilee Park, Kariega, Nelson Mandela Bay. (Photo: Deon Ferreira)

“Remember that our political principals are correct in pointing out challenges and trying to ensure we are agile, but that is not always a suggestion that we are not doing our work,” Soyaya said.

“It’s their duty to be hard on us as officials,” he said.

Meanwhile, Thsonono Buyeye, a member of the mayoral committee for public health, said stormwater drains at cemeteries in the metro would be improved.

“We have done an assessment of the state of the cemeteries after the recent rains. We are grateful that the damage has not been extensive in our cemeteries, the most affected by flooding were the Motherwell cemetery, Matanzima and the Gerald Smith in Kariega.

“We do have an ongoing challenge as a city whenever there are heavy rains. It is the constant flooding of our cemeteries, which is why we have been trying to find a lasting solution to this problem,” Buyeye said.

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

“We do have a project that will be starting in the next week or so here in Motherwell cemetery, which seeks to address the problem of flooding where we will try to make sure that the rainwater is channelled into the existing canal,” Buyeye said.

“This is a resting place for our loved ones, and we don’t want when residents come to visit the graves of their loved ones they find them flooded. We are hoping the same project will be extended to all cemeteries across the city so that graves are kept in a dignified manner.” DM

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