Durban - Communities across Durban woke up to dry taps and power failures on Wednesday morning.
In wards 33, 64 and 66, councillor Sakhile Mngadi said services were disrupted due to the flooding.
“eThekwini has suffered an unprecedented amount of loss due to land slides, flooding and washaways,” he said.
Ward 65 councillor Samantha Windvogel said there are outages in Burlington, Umhlatuzana, Chatsworth, Seaview, Hillary, Bellair and Malvern.
"Both our water and electricity infrastructure is badly damaged due to the heavy rains we have recently experienced. I'm on the ground and can personally attest to this. I have made requests for water tankers. I'm applying as much pressure as possible to get everyone restored. Water tankers have been requested," she said.
City spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said numerous areas have suffered water and electricity outages caused by loss or damage to infrastructure.
He said there are several major high-voltage substations which have flooded and are currently inaccessible.
"Crews will be working in shifts until the high-voltage supplies are restored. Some substations will need to be rebuilt and this may cause extended delays. eThekwini has suffered an unprecedented amount of damage of infrastructure through landslides, flooding and washaways overnight," Mayisela said.
KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala said no area has been spared.
"Undoubtedly billions of rand worth of damage has been caused to homes, places of work, roads, bridges, electricity and water supply, and other critical government infrastructure. None of our districts have been spared, but the eThekwini Metro has been the epicentre of this disaster with most of the rain and the worst damage," he said.
Zikalala said in the meantime the province has activated seasonal contingency plans of sectors, province and municipalities to co-ordinate multi-sectoral response efforts.
"Co-ordination of efforts by all relevant stakeholders is under way, focusing on damage assessments, relief and response measures to address the immediate needs from existing arrangements and programmes within affected organs of state across the spheres," Zikalala said.
Meanwhile, Mayisela said the call centres are also experiencing a high volume of calls. The public is urged to use alternative contact details to report outages.
Water – WhatsApp – 073 148 3477 or email [email protected]
Electricity: WhatsApp – 076 791 2449 or email [email protected]
The public is urged to contact the Emergency and Disaster call centre on 031 361 0000 to report any emergency situation, including fallen trees that are blocking the road.
IOL