30-04-2025
Scramble to relocate Umlazi residents affected by recent heavy rains as more rains forecast
The department of human settlements is in the race against time to move the latest victims of the recent heavy rains in Umlazi, south of Durban, to temporary accommodation — with more rain forecast at the start of May.
This was after hundreds of residents from Umlazi's H section were left homeless when at least 56 households were damaged and others collapsed following heavy downpours of the past week.
Residents who spoke to TimesLIVE on Wednesday explained that they first experienced soil movement in the week leading up to the Easter weekend, which resulted in houses and yards starting to develop cracks from the ground.
'The cracks got worse as time went on — houses began tilting precariously to one side and the foundations became unstable. People were moving out one by one depending on the situation but the rainfall last week just made things worse and, come Friday, houses were collapsing in their numbers,' said Sthembiso Xaba, a resident.
Xaba's two bedroom house that he shared with his wife and four children was among the first ones to collapse in the area, situated on the bank of Umlazi River.
'It was worse in my case because aside from the visible soil erosion that we were all exposed to, there was a municipal water pipe that burst from the areas in the upper parts and water from there pushed more soil down to my house which accelerated the damage and led to its collapse.'
