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Cleanup operations continue in Durban, South Africa. The floods in early April killed nearly 450 people and caused considerable material damage. If it is too early to quantify exactly the economic losses caused by these bad weather, hundreds of millions of euros will be necessary to rebuild. These floods affected from the entrepreneur to the small owner.
Two steps and then emptiness. The garden that marked the entrance to Trevor’s house was washed away by a landslide. The repairs will be very important and will have to be self-financed. ” We don’t have insurance for the house. The damage has to be repaired and it has to be repaired in the pocket. It will cost us dearly. A lot of cars were damaged and in the neighborhood where I come from people don’t have a lot of money. They worked hard to afford these cars and sadly most did not insure their vehicle “, laments Trevor
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Landslides have destroyed many infrastructures. Roads, bridges, pipes, buildings. The transport sector also suffered heavy losses. Trucks under water, containers scattered on the roads, but above all a temporary stoppage of operations at the port of Durban, the largest container port in sub-Saharan Africa, then a drop in its activity for lack of access. This disaster recalls the riots of July 2021 which had interrupted road traffic.
But this time it’s even worse, says Juanita Maree, head of a South African freight association (SAAFF). ” The consequences are more disastrous. I think it will take 45 days for the timing chain to absorb the shock and return to normal. But I think it has become much more resilient since the July 2021 riots. We learned the lessons of looting, Dear Juanita Maree. In the event of a crisis, we now have structures to enable us to all work together to keep the distribution chain fluid.. »
The scattering of hundreds of containers on the roads of Durban illustrates the force of these floods, but also the lack of adaptation of the metropolis to the risks of climate change, according to Gladwin Malishe, vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce and Durban industry. ” I think some of those containers weren’t supposed to be there. So we have to put in place a better organization of the city. Which space for housing, which zone for industry, which other for logistics, he details. We must now take into account floods or other disasters that may occur. »
In its reconstruction effort, the city of Durban will have to better take into account the issue of climatic hazards. The KwaZulu-Natal provincial Ministry of Economic Development estimates the cost of the repairs at 600,000 million euros.
► To read also: Floods in South Africa: in Durban, in shock, residents testify