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Window Onto Nature's World Flood Damage and Colloidal Erosion - Spot Light on Rehabilitation
Window Onto Nature's World Flood Damage and Colloidal Erosion - Spot Light on Rehabilitation
Date: 2022-06-25
One ray of light amidst the devastation of the recent floods has been the rapid and efficient 'temporary' reinstatement of the R102 by the local team with Nick Roberts and all his "Supporters". A laudable example, when the community has come together, where repair of essential infrastructure under the Department of Transport appears absent. This incident further demonstrates the need to re-structure Services and Maintenance with identification at a local level, with qualified expertise, and "continuity" of management offering rapid, cost effective solutions to assist the community.
At Umdhloti Beach the impact of the "Deluge" over the 22nd May has left an "unbelievable" path of destruction, affecting many private residences along Bellamont Road, the prominent "Surf Side" Apartment block along Marine Drive and dumped tons of red-coloured silty deposit into North Beach Apartment properties. It is apparent that a meaningful infrastructure has been neglected since Bellamont Road was first implemented. An early example was the large "Slippage" at the northern end linked to the entrance into Bellamont Gardens, in 1995. At the time Geoff Nichols, who was Head of Parks Department, was busy reinstating the Indigenous trees and groundcovers, together with cross-pole structures to stabilize the slope and replace the vegetation which had washed down the steep slope into the Lagoon.
Video records, taken at the time of the "Deluge", serve to illustrate abundant flows of mobile siltation which has increased existing "Slippages" and carved deep new fissures dividing the residential properties, with collapse of the Built Environment, septic tanks, and water pipelines. Up-rooted Indigenous Trees include clumps of Strelitzia nicolai, Natal Wild Banana, and several Protected Milkwood Trees, Mimusops caffra. The Protected species will have to be reinstated in conjunction with the DAFF procedures and requirements. The loss of valuable top soil throughout many gardens and Forest Zones is apparent, with the Red Clay deposit now the hazardous, muddy replacement token. Similarly, within the swathe of the "D'Moss" Forest Zone the humus layer has been swept away, with roots exposed. Alas, mature garden trees, beloved by their owners, are now balancing precariously down the edge of a crater.
To enable positive Restoration and Rehabilitation several initiatives are already in progress. Planning steps for a new Stormwater system with new pipelines together with new Sewer lines to obviate further collapse of Septic tanks is eminent. Along Bellamont Road a new drainage system is envisaged to enable collection and evacuation of storm water off the tarmac surface is a priority for the future.
Where the stability of the land resource has been undermined by the disaster a professional investigation and decision to vacate the area may be necessary. The Reinstatement costs for the Built Environment losses are mounting daily. To reinstate the Natural Environment after this level of destruction a "Specialist" Environmental Rehabilitation and Landscape Approach combined with reliable Geotechnical and Soil Fertility Recommendations and top Engineering expertise are ESSENTIAL. COMPLIANCE with the already proven Coastal Zone Management criteria together with the Environmental Conservation Act, Section 28 "Duty of Care" by all parties concerned should ensure successful Rehabilitation and Landscape for the Umdhloti community. No stone should be left unturned to ensure that "this "Unbelievable" catastrophe does not happen again".