No help for flood chaos

STORM: WE'VE BEEN IGNORED BY GOVT DESPITE MASSIVE DAMAGE TO PROPERTY - RESIDENTS

- Eric Mthobeli Naki

Residents of Norwood in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape are crying foul, saying they have been ignored by the provincial government and King Sabata Dalindyebo local municipality (KSD) despite suffering massive property damage during a recent devastating storm in the area.

The distraught residents also claimed the authorities were concealing the possibility that someone might have opened the dam sluice and let the water flow into nearby communities.

They demanded that this be investigated, though they at the same time expressed no hope as a previous incident in 2013 was allegedly never investigated.

Norwood is a middle-class suburb on the banks of the Mthatha River, which is believed to have burst its banks and spilt water over into nearby informal settlements and Norwood suburb.

The last death toll figure was 90, some of whom were school children whose school bus was swept away by the floods.

Many people who lost their homes and belongings were accommodated in makeshift shelters and halls nearby.

This, while an alternative housing was being organised as an interim measure.

However, at nearby Norwood, houses on 5th, 6th and Zigzag avenues, which are closer to the river, were the most affected.

The area's electricity supply went off on the second day of the storm, 10 June.