Durban’s beaches will remain closed for at least another five days as the city’s authorities clean up in the wake of the heavy surf that battered the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) coastline.
eThekwini deputy head of fire and disaster management Mark te Water said on Tuesday evening that he expected the city’s beaches to remain closed for at least five days.
”We are trying everything to get the beaches sorted out before the Easter holidays,” he said.
Te Water said that it was still too early to place a value on the damage to the city’s infrastructure.
”It is a high figure. That’s all I can tell you.”
He said that apart from beaches needing rehabilitation, roads needed to be examined, as did electrical cables and water pipes.
Andy Spies, the acting deputy director for the Umhlatuze fire and rescue services said on Tuesday afternoon that Richards Bay’s main beach, Alkandstrand, had remained closed to the public and was expected to be opened during Wednesday once all the debris had been cleared from the beach and from the parking lot.
KwaZulu-Natal’s coastline was battered by the heavy surf, with swells recorded at between 6m and 8m in the early hours of Monday morning. Massive waves continued to pound the coast during the day, but by Monday night the swell had dissipated as the gale-force winds dropped.
National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) spokesperson Craig Lambinon said that by Tuesday the swells had dropped to between 2m and 3m.
On Monday evening police reported that the heavy surf had claimed one life at Shelley Beach on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast.
Police spokesperson Superintendent Zandra Hechter said the man, believed to be about 30, was one of the helpers who assisted in the launching of ski-boats at the Shelly Beach Ski-Boat Club.
”It is further believed that he is one of the many homeless who live in the bushes along the beach and was caught by the unusually high tide.”
She said the evidence indicated that the man had drowned. A woman, taking a walk on the beach, found his body.
An inquest docket has been opened.
On Tuesday morning, numerous vessels were seen leaving port in calm, sunny weather.
Durban port authorities told South African Broadcasting Corporation radio news that the harbour was open to small vessels but still closed to larger incoming traffic and that 31 vessels were waiting to come into port.
KwaZulu-Natal Premier S’bu Ndebele praised the province’s rescue services.
”Emergency services personnel, including officials from the South African Police Service, ambulance services, provincial government, local government, the NSRI, as well as ordinary members of the public, all rallied together to ensure that the loss of life was minimised.
”For this we are extremely grateful to the people of KwaZulu-Natal,” he said in a statement released on Tuesday morning.
Damage to the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast was estimated to be in the region of half-a-billion rand, he said.
”As at the early hours of this morning, most of the affected areas in the province were reported to be back to normal.
However, emergency services will remain on standby to monitor the situation.
”We also want to assure visitors to our province that we are working hard to ensure that the situation returns to normal”, said Ndebele.
By late afternoon on Tuesday the insurance giant, Santam, reported that it had already received claims totalling R2,5-million and was expecting the figure to grow as clean-up operations continued.
”We have brought in assessors from around the country to deal with the ongoing claims as smoothly and efficiently as possible.
Regional manager Daniel Stevens said: ”So far we have processed … 66 claims relating to sand and water damage.
Assessors are based in a Santam ”catastrophe” van on the beachfront from where they are visiting the different sites to measure and quantify damage.
”Apart from the water damage on the coast, further inland we have received 48 additional claims to date resulting from severe storms last Thursday night [March 15].”
During Monday’s storm, thousands of people flocked to various points along Durban’s coastline to see the huge swells and several areas were cordoned off by authorities to prevent any tragic occurrence. — Sapa