Heavy Downpour in Durban
Durban and surrounding areas experienced an unexpected downpour last night just after 9pm. Heavy rains bucketed down over Durban causing flash flooding to take place on all major routes in and around Durban, turning them into rivers of water. Heavy winds blew tiles off roofs, caused trees to fall across roadways and garden furniture, children’s trampolines, pot plants and bicycles to be blown over walls and into the streets. Lightening continued to light up the night sky turning the night into day. Several buildings were struck by lightening during the heavy storm, which continued for over 2 hours.
Motorists were cautioned to stay off of the roads as far as possible however police and paramedics still had their hands full dealing with a marked increase in the number of road accidents. Fortunately nobody was killed however a number of people were taken to various hospitals in and around the city by ambulance. To add to the workload, the EMRS (provincial ambulance) control centre’s telephone lines were affected by the storm, causing an influx of calls to the ER24 dispatch centre inmDurban. Paramedics and ambulances were racing all over the greater metropolitan region.
Paramedics who brought their patients to Addington hospital found the entrance to the trauma unit flooded with both water and a multitude of homeless people who sought shelter at the hospital. Paramedics wheeled their stretchers through the water and walking patients were carried by paramedics through the puddle which was deeper than their boots. ER24 paramedic Derrick Banks is seen carrying an ill patient into the trauma unit. One man, Ivor Truebig, who is wheelchair bound, normally lives on the island just outside Addington hospital, but was forced to seek refuge at the hospital, and is seen with his wheelchair in the hospital parking area with his worldly belongings with him.
On the M4 Leo Boyd Highway (or whatever it is called now), emergency services were busy pushing downed trees out of the roadway so that motorists did not collide into them. The M4 up at La Mercy experienced severe mud slides, causing dangerous road closures, as motorists could not see the mud in the night. Tow truck operators were kept extremely busy as they assisted accident victims and emergency services to clear cars which had either broken down in the large lakes of water, or had been involved in an accident.
The M4 South going towards Durban International airport was once again flooded across all the lanes and several accidents occurred as motorists aquaplaned across the deep water. It is only a matter of time before someone gets killed along this stretch as a result of aquaplaning. Paramedics have highlighted this area as an accident hotspot time and
again, and asked that the drainage system be looked at. This seems to have fallen on deaf ears with Durban City Management.
In one accident, 4 security guards were injured when their vehicle slid into a large truck at the corners of North Coast and Sea Cow Lake roads. One person was seriously injured and placed on a drip at the scene and another 3 people sustained minor injuries in the accident. Durban Metro Police attended the scene.
Durban’s beachfront was also flooded on the lower Marine promenade and a spectacular lightening display could be seen miles out to sea. Shops in the city centre (West Street, Smith Street and Victoria embankment) were flooded as the water levels rose above the pavement, carrying the manhole covers with them as water rose up out of the drainage systems.
Motorists were cautioned to stay off of the roads as far as possible however police and paramedics still had their hands full dealing with a marked increase in the number of road accidents. Fortunately nobody was killed however a number of people were taken to various hospitals in and around the city by ambulance. To add to the workload, the EMRS (provincial ambulance) control centre’s telephone lines were affected by the storm, causing an influx of calls to the ER24 dispatch centre inmDurban. Paramedics and ambulances were racing all over the greater metropolitan region.Paramedics who brought their patients to Addington hospital found the entrance to the trauma unit flooded with both water and a multitude of homeless people who sought shelter at the hospital. Paramedics wheeled their stretchers through the water and walking patients were carried by paramedics through the puddle which was deeper than their boots. ER24 paramedic Derrick Banks is seen carrying an ill patient into the trauma unit. One man, Ivor Truebig, who is wheelchair bound, normally lives on the island just outside Addington hospital, but was forced to seek refuge at the hospital, and is seen with his wheelchair in the hospital parking area with his worldly belongings with him.
On the M4 Leo Boyd Highway (or whatever it is called now), emergency services were busy pushing downed trees out of the roadway so that motorists did not collide into them. The M4 up at La Mercy experienced severe mud slides, causing dangerous road closures, as motorists could not see the mud in the night. Tow truck operators were kept extremely busy as they assisted accident victims and emergency services to clear cars which had either broken down in the large lakes of water, or had been involved in an accident.
The M4 South going towards Durban International airport was once again flooded across all the lanes and several accidents occurred as motorists aquaplaned across the deep water. It is only a matter of time before someone gets killed along this stretch as a result of aquaplaning. Paramedics have highlighted this area as an accident hotspot time and
again, and asked that the drainage system be looked at. This seems to have fallen on deaf ears with Durban City Management.In one accident, 4 security guards were injured when their vehicle slid into a large truck at the corners of North Coast and Sea Cow Lake roads. One person was seriously injured and placed on a drip at the scene and another 3 people sustained minor injuries in the accident. Durban Metro Police attended the scene.
Durban’s beachfront was also flooded on the lower Marine promenade and a spectacular lightening display could be seen miles out to sea. Shops in the city centre (West Street, Smith Street and Victoria embankment) were flooded as the water levels rose above the pavement, carrying the manhole covers with them as water rose up out of the drainage systems.
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