Nelson Mandela Bay is in desperate need of rain.
Anyone in SA who does not know that by now has been living under a rock.
But, as this past weekend showed, all it took was an average of about 39mm of rain — the maximum recorded at Dawid Stuurman International Airport was 48.4mm followed by 35.2mm at the 3rd Avenue Dip in Newton Park and in the mid-30s in other locations — for large parts of the Bay to be flooded.
For the longest time, the SA Weather Service’s Garth Sampson, aka Weather Guru, has warned that long spells of drought in the Bay are traditionally broken by a flood.
In June, he said in a podcast, Behind The Herald Headlines with Daron Mann: “We need a flood of biblical proportions and anybody [who’s] been in Nelson Mandela Bay long enough knows that that flood is long overdue.”
And on Saturday, we got not just a taste of that — but also an indication of just how woefully unprepared the city is to deal with a disaster of that nature because of its ailing stormwater drainage system.
Bay mayor Retief Odendaal said on Sunday the municipality was determined to address the disastrous system and the situation after various areas of the metro experienced flash flooding.
“We’re aware that the stormwater drainage system has been neglected for years and has caused many problems for residents,” he said.
“It is very clear there are quite weak points in the system and it is clear there has been no maintenance done.”
By Monday morning, Odendaal indicated teams were already at work addressing some of the stormwater drainage system and vowed that a regular maintenance programme would be put in place next year, with repairs to be carried out where the system has collapsed.
We welcome this intervention and cannot emphasise enough how crucial it will be to get as much done as possible in anticipation of big rain.
Because when the rains come — and come they will — we will need to ensure there is minimal flooding, damage to property and no loss of lives.
In addition, we will need to have in place systems that allow us to make the most of the rain, to capture and store it somehow if we are ever to break this drought.
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