Widespread tidal flooding and huge waves, caused by weather conditions combined with a high spring tide, brought chaos to the KwaZulu-Natal coastline on Monday — and worse may be in store for the battered region.
In Durban, beachfront areas were pounded by massive surf in the early hours of Monday morning, leaving the city’s famed Golden Mile littered with debris and emergency services scrambling to rescue numerous people.
The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) and the police’s search-and-rescue unit evacuated seven people from the Isipingo Island hotel at the mouth of the Isipingo River near Durban International Airport.
The heavy weather forced the closure of all port operations in Durban. An empty car was washed off a bridge in Umkomaas, and two women at Durban’s popular Blue Lagoon were washed off their feet when a freak wave broke over the bollards and crashed into the parking lot.
Homes were damaged on the Ballito beachfront and two people were treated for injuries, the NSRI said. One had to be treated in hospital for a fracture.
Staff at the Steers restaurant on the Lower Marine Parade were injured when waves crashed into the restaurant.
In St Lucia, gale-force winds and high seas swept away part of the boardwalk linking the Sugarloaf campsite in the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park to the estuary parking area .
The NSRI in Richards Bay sustained extensive damage to its deep-sea rescue craft Spirit of Richards Bay, which was smashed into the harbour wall by heavy sea swells.
”The NSRI and the Vodacom Netcare 911 surf-rescue helicopter remain on full alert for high tide later this [Monday] afternoon, and high tide expected just after 4am tomorrow [Tuesday] may see bigger seas than this morning,” the NSRI’s Craig Lambinon said.
”East London are reporting 9m swells today, which we expect may compound our situation in Durban with tomorrow morning’s 4am high tide,” he added.
Cause of the trouble
In a joint statement from the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park Authority and Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife, spokesperson Roland Vorwerk said the ”unusual weather conditions” would continue for another 24 hours.
He said that, according to the South African Weather Bureau, the conditions were caused by a cut-off low currently located to the south-east of the country.
”In addition to this, the equinox spring tide is due to be at its highest level in 18 years tomorrow [Tuesday], which means that the high and low tides are at their most extreme,” he said.
The weather bureau said on its website on Monday afternoon that very rough seas, with wave heights in excess of 5m, were expected between Port Elizabeth and Maputo, moderating from the south.
For safety reasons, the St Lucia park management had closed the area between Honeymoon Bend and the sea to boating, and no launching from the public jetty was allowed. The running of boats providing tours on the Lake St Lucia Estuary was also temporarily cancelled.
Boat launch sites were closed at the Maphelane, St Lucia, Cape Vidal and Sodwana Bay beaches until further notice.
”Significant amounts of sea water continue to enter the lake system since the breaching of the mouth on March 2. This opened the lake to the ocean for the first time in five years,” said Vorwerk.