Mop-up work and assessments have commenced in Nelson Mandela Bay on Monday, 15 May 2023 following the heavy rainfalls over the weekend.
The Metro working closely with other government stakeholders such as the Department of Social Development and its agency; SASSA, local businesses and religious leaders, have started with major clean ups across the Metro in an effort to alleviate the impact of the heavy rains and subsequent flooding that occurred over the weekend.
With more than 1000 residents still accommodated in places of safety, the NMBM Human Settlements Directorate has activated some interventions including the provision of temporary structures for Edongweni families to relocate to Motherwell to unlock permanent relocation and repositioning of families while assessments continue to be underway to find suitable solutions to respond to the current challenges.
Mayoral Committee Member for NMBM Safety and Security, Cllr Lawrence Troon said: “We are pleased with the swift response of all the role players. Social workers are on the ground with our officials to assist our people. That is the main priority right now, we want to speed up our response so that their lives can go back to normal but we can not do that without doing the assessments first because the cases are different and we need to respond to each case adequately.”
“Parallel to the important social interventions being done, today the Infrastructure and Engineering teams on the ground draining the water and reopening some of the affected roads. It might take us a few days to dry everything up and we call on our residents to be patient. But most importantly we are really appealing to our communities to refrain from illegal dumping and inserting foreign objects into our infrastructure as it is during these heavy rains that we see the negative impact caused by such acts.”
Some of the items found in the blocked drains include rubble, nappies, plastics, and cement blocks among other items. The total cost of the damage caused by the rains is still being investigated.
Ward 54 Councillor, Lunga Minyayo said: “We received sleeping bags and blankets from the Gift of the Givers and NMBM Disaster Management, toiletries from NMBM Humans Settlements, there is also transport made available for the affected families. We are waiting for mattresses and expecting them this evening. We have seen the spirit of Ubuntu coming through during this time and we thank all the stakeholders that are assisting,” said Minyayo.
Residents are advised to contact ward councillors for emergency cases or call on 041 501 7900/0415851555/0800 20 5050.
NMB Communications
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