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After weathering several storms over the past few decades, residents on the outskirts of Rocklands have found themselves in another slippery situation following the recent floods in the metro.
Among them is retired construction worker Rudolf Brown, who for two weeks has been sequestered on his smallholding with his wife, Sonia, and their daughter after the heavy rains washed away a bridge leading to their property.
The 45-acre farm property is one of five cut off from the gravel Culturama Road off-turn pathway that leads to the Longmore State Forest.
While still upbeat, with food supplies, water and electricity, the 80-year-old is less optimistic that any help will be forthcoming from the municipality.
“Well, no-one ever comes to help, so you just have to do it yourself,” he said.
While much of the water in the rivulet had subsided on Thursday, the gulf where the bridge was is still inaccessible.
“I breed broilers here but luckily at the moment we do not have any, otherwise I would be in trouble,” he said.
“There is food at the farm and water is not a worry, but soon I will need to get my medication.
“The crossing far down is also too dangerous, you can’t even cross with a quad bike.”
Brown said he constructed the bridge in the 2000s after another flood torrent destroyed a previous structure and left them stranded.
Brown said his family was the only one marooned as the people on the neighbouring farms had managed to leave before the bridge collapsed.
“We tried the municipality, we tried the government, but no-one ever came,” he said.
“I was younger then, so I could just do it myself.
“But I will have to make a plan today because I cannot wait for someone who may never come.”
He estimated the cost to construct a similar bridge with concrete piles, gravel and slabs at more than R100,000.
The farms are almost 30km from Kariega, where most of the damage occurred with homes flooded or destroyed and vehicles washed away.
The municipality has put the cost of the damage at R1.1bn and still counting.
The damage includes stormwater drains, bridges, sports facilities, depots, community halls, electricity infrastructure and informal settlements.
Ward 40 councillor Jason Grobbelaar said there were 14 gravel roads around the Rocklands, Withoogte, Van Stadens, St Albans and Witteklip areas that had washed away and were cut off from main roads.
“Some properties cannot access food while some people cannot get to work,” he said.
He said the infrastructure in the area was a provincial competency.
“I have asked the municipality to escalate the matter to the premier or MEC [for roads’ office] so that more teams, operators and graders are deployed because this is an urgent matter.
“With the current rate of work, it may take weeks to get the roads back open and our residents are not coping,” Grobbelaar said.
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