Johannesburg - It is safe to say the year 2022 has been the year of floods, devastation, and displacement of communities; ranging from KwaZulu-Natal floods to Gauteng floods in Soweto’s Protea South, Protea Glen, Klipspruit, and the West Rand.
As the year comes to an end, some of the victims of these floods spent their Christmas holidays huddled in community halls with nothing to look forward to after their homes were wrecked in the resultant turmoil.
It was reported that more than 8 000 families, victims of the April KwaZulu-Natal floods, were still languishing in various community centres and halls in and around Durban, but the KZN government has since closed down all the shelters and moved people to decent housing.
This week, the South African government announced that it has since relocated all families who were displaced by the KwaZulu-Natal floods to new and more acceptable accommodation.
The year 2022 started on a sad note when, in April 2022, days of heavy rain across the province of KwaZulu-Natal led to deadly floods that were subsequently declared a national state of disaster.
It was reported that the floods, which affected parts of Ugu, King Cetshwayo, UMgungundlovu, KwaDukuza, Msunduzi, iLembe, and the eThekwini municipalities, resulted in da,age of more than R17 billion (US$1.57 billion).
More than 435 people perished in the deluge, with some families still no closer to locating some of their family members who are still missing to this day – more than eight months since April 2022.
According to Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, thousands of homes were damaged resulting the displacement of families and victims.
Some critical infrastructure that was damaged included major roads, transportation, communication, and electrical systems, which badly impacted by the flooding. Dlamini-Zuma indicated that the KwaZulu-Natal floods had been declared one of the deadliest since the 1987 floods.
While the floods in Soweto and other areas were not as deadly as those in KwaZulu-Natal, the floods which occurred just when the year was about to wrap up in the early part of December 2022, left more than 235 families homeless and in need of proper accommodation.
They too have been stripped of the joyous festive spirit of enjoying the last days of the year in the comfort of their homes.
On December 17, 2022, while the ANC was arguing over who should be their new leader, Joburg mayor Dr Mpho Phalatse moved quickly to declare parts of the flood-affected areas a national disaster. She submitted a report to the provincial and national disaster management to declare affected areas a disaster.
Phalatse reported that more than 213 families and households had been affected by the floods, which led to damage to infrastructure worth an estimated R300 million.
"Thus far, 23 people have been rescued by Joburg EMS; 148 people have been rescued by SAPS Search and Rescue; 61 informal settlement dwellings have been damaged; and, 16 people have tragically lost their lives, including an off-duty SAPS member," said Warrant Officer Ntsako Pataka.
"The current damage to state infrastructure sits at approximately R300 million (R292,419,903), and we expect this figure to increase. Some areas are still under water or inaccessible, therefore making it impossible to conduct an accurate and final assessment," Pataka added.
The Star