Six people have died, and hundreds have been displaced after heavy rains triggered severe flooding in eThekwini Municipality yesterday.

Among the hardest-hit were families in an informal settlement in Lamontville, many of whom were displaced by the 2022 floods and later relocated to an area that has now been devastated again.

Ntombikhona Mhlongo, a resident of the informal settlement, lost her mother, 60-year-old Zondeni Gcabashe, who was swept away by the floodwaters.

“The rain got intense at 11pm, and water gushed into the shack. We tried to run, but the water outside was even worse. We had nowhere to go because we were trapped between a river and the flooding street,” Mhlongo said.

She described how they tried to hold on to poles for safety, but the force of the water was too strong. “That’s how my mother and the others got washed away,” she said.

Mhlongo expressed frustration, saying this was not the first time they had faced such devastation.

“I still cannot believe what happened last night, and I am angry because this has happened before. In 2022, we faced a similar situation, but this time, it was worse. We moved to this area in 2021 after we were displaced by floods. It was supposed to be temporary, but we were never updated on where we would be placed permanently,” she said.

She said they had raised the issue of flooding with the ward councillor as their homes are between a canal and road. “When it rains heavily, we have nowhere to go.”

Another resident, Lulama Dingiswayo, lost all three of her children – Snokhanya, 17, Lusenathi, 11, and Elethu, 6.

“They were at the neighbour’s shack, and when the water got too much inside, they went outside. I think they were not in a good position because there was a lot of water. They tried to hold on to the washing line and poles but couldn’t withstand the force,” a visibly upset Dingiswayo said.

At the time, she said, she was in another shack with others and when they got out, she searched for the children. “We were told they had been washed away. We have lost everything,” she said.

She said a 14-year-old boy who survived was traumatised by the sight of the children being washed away.

Ward 73 councillor Nobabalo Zondi confirmed that the affected families had been moved to the area in 2022 after authorities deemed their previous homes unsafe.

“They had built shacks on a riverbank and we thought it was dangerous for them to stay there in case of heavy rainfall. There were 100 families when they arrived here,” Zondi said.

However, she admitted that the municipality has struggled to find suitable land for relocation.

“This ward has an influx of shacks, and our biggest challenge is land. We don’t have available land. What we depend on is looking for land in other areas, but that process is slow because other areas also have people who need to be placed,” she said.

EThekwini Mayor Cyril Xaba said the flooding was unexpected.

“The councillor said this area was not prone to such flooding. It is the first time we are experiencing it at this level. There was nothing suggesting this area would be affected,” Xaba said.

He acknowledged the growing challenge of flooding in different areas of the city.

“You can see that this is happening even in well-established areas that never experienced mudslides before, as we saw in 2022. This means that no area is safe now,” he said.

Xaba also highlighted the broader housing crisis in eThekwini, saying the city is struggling with land shortages.

“Our problem as a city is that we don’t have enough land. In fact, we don’t have land. Yet we have over 500 informal settlements, and these are people who need to be relocated,” he said.

He added that even when land is identified, resistance from existing communities delays relocation efforts.

“With human settlements, we have identified a few sites to relocate people, but communities are up in arms. They ask why we are bringing these people into their surroundings,” Xaba said.

MEC for Transport and Human Settlements Sboniso Duma said that informal settlements remain vulnerable to extreme weather. He said the scarcity of resources and land meant that people built their shacks in waterlogged areas, river frontage, and wetlands. These issues will continue to bother us because of the housing backlog,” he said.

He also acknowledged past mistakes in urban planning.

“When these areas were originally designed, the engineering of that time did not anticipate the influx of people. Stormwater systems that were once adequate are now overwhelmed. We need to ensure that drainage systems are sufficient,” Duma said.

The eThekwini Municipality confirmed that six people died in the floods: the three children from Lamontville, and two women, aged 56 and 60. The sixth victim was from Chatsworth.

“About 280 families in Lamontville were affected and will be relocated to temporary shelters as mop-up operations continue,” the City said.

THE MERCURY