Wednesday Walk - Durban Storm Aftermath at Lily's Cottage
And then the rains came and left a trail of destruction.
This was alongside a stream not far from us.
Fortunately we were not affected badly, only a couple of sinkholes in the garden and a whole load of sand washed on to the paving, one benefit is that the pool is overflowing so we will not need to top it up with precious and costly municipal water.
So for this week's #wednesdaywalk, I did not have to walk very far as what I'm showing you is either here at home or just down the road from us.
A small sinkhole in our one bank and across the road from us hectic erosion on the school's steep bank with a large tree fallen over - they were busy replanting this, obviously thinking we're out of the rainy season, but the weather is doing strange things these days!
Our pool filled to the top; it was still raining early on Tuesday morning when I took this photo.
A whole load of sand washed onto the paving, but really was cleaned up in no time today.
Water pooled in one area where the paving is not sloping correctly - the contractors were not listening at the time and hubby was so fed up by then after major renovations, that he just left it for another day!
A nearby boundary wall downed by the storm, thank goodness hubby made sure all our retaining walls have storm water drains behind them as well as hectic steel so it will take an earth quake to move his walls!
Water still gushing out one of his storm water pipes some 24 hours after the rain had stopped - a beautiful sight for an engineer! Just goes to show how much underground water there is!
Then as I sat down to write this post, I received a call from a lady whose family lost their entire home.
This family's neighbour's boundary retaining wall came crashing down onto their property, and all the bricks, concrete and water logged earth pushed one side of their house's wall over, nearly killing their son!
A tall wardrobe fell over onto his bed, actually saving his life as everything else came tumbling into the room.
They've lost most of their possessions, their car is still buried under all the mud and building debris!
This family needs temporary accommodation and fortunately we can accommodate them in our self catering airbnb Lily's Cottage for the next two weeks at least; we already have students coming for nearly the entire month of May but I'm sure they can be accommodated nearby at my sister in law's airbnb.
How do you put your life in order again having lost everything, including the roof over your head?
Insurance will pay up, but to rebuild from scratch is going to be a long process and all those precious memories and sentimental keepsakes can never be replaced!
My photos showing the little damage we suffered after the storms of this past Monday night pales in comparison to what this family went through! I will get their permission and share their photos just to show the might of water-logged earth!
But after the storm, the sun always comes out, although it's been very shy today, but there were little glimmers of sunshine.
First photo taken the morning after the rain, clouds still looking threatening. The other photo was taken this morning with less clouds and a little blue sky starting to peek out.
.jpg)
Our giant Papaya tree is still standing after the storm.
Our little lady is still drawing water from the well.
And my Tamarillos are still bearing luscious fruit, although most have been picked by now!
no matter how dark things may appear!
This is my contribution towards #wednesdaywalk as initiated by @tattoodjay.
Check out his POST to see the requirements, looking forward to see where you walked today!
Original Content by @lizelle
Thank you for stopping by
Comments, upvotes & resteems all much appreciated :)
Copyright @lizelle - All Rights Reserved
!steemitworldmap -29.888841 lat 30.922785 long Lily's Cottage Durban West d3scr
People really under estimate the power and force of water, glad your place survived as well as it did. So sorry for your neighbor's and their property loss, thank God they didn't lose their boy in the storm.
So glad to hear from you again Mr Papper! It was not my neighbour's house, it's guests we're hosting who live in a neighbouring suburb, they were fortunate not to lose their son as well! But we're hearing of more and more missing people being found in rivers and streams right close to us!
The forces of nature are much much stronger than we can imagine!
Hope you're keeping well.
Posted using Partiko Android
Wow. Water is a real force, isn't it? We are incredibly dry on average, but we do have flash floods from time to time. We can have thunderstorms that really dump some water. It seems a few people die from them every year.
I'm glad you came out OK. Reinforced and properly anchored walls are really a good idea. Dammed expensive at the time, but the alternative is not so good.
Thank you for your feedback @bigtom13, it did cost a lot at the time but fortunately we worked with sub-contracters so hubby had a big hand in it which cut the costs but one cannot take chances here in KwaZulu Natal with retaining walls as we do have heavy rains every summer. It came late this year though so caught many unawares!
Someone saw the police at a stream near us earlier this evening and a lady was there crying, we heard later that they found a missing man in it, so sad! The stream is like a raging river now, can hear it on our verandah and it's way down in the valley!
Oh my word @lizelle, I am so glad you didn't suffer any further damages. How much rain did you have? Electricity didn't fail right? I feel so badly for your neighbor, it is amazing the amount of damage water can do in such a short time. You are right though, the sun still comes out and luckily she has a wonderful neighbor like you to help her while she gets back on her feet!! Be safe, and watch out for those sink holes...they can be deadly, homes and cars are swallowed up in them in my state. Scary stuff! Keep us in the loop!
Apparently Durban had around 165cm overnight which broke previous records so no wonder there was so much damage, it's also very hilly terrain and that's what caused a lot of landslides.
I think I worded my post wrong, it was our guests' neighbours whose retaining wall collapsed and damaged our current guests' house. We're just thankful we can help them with accommodation for now but it's going to be a long while before they'll be back in their own home again. They say about three quarter of their house is damaged, they may have to build from scratch if the foundations are damaged! Their property is very steep!
The sinkholes in our garden is quite small, but hubby won't touch it till it's dried out more.
Up in Gauteng they have those massive sinkholes that just appear out of nowhere, and I think it's because of the mining that goes on there.
The sun was out today and things are drying out!
Thank you for your concern my friend!
Oh no! So sorry to hear about your neighbor! Im glad their damage wasnt worse and no one was killed...
Your damage isnt too bad, thankfully. I just have to say, that wall with all the plants growing in it looks super cool! I love that design!
I don't think anyone went through this storm unscathed Lizelle, glad to hear you managed to help others who are in a far worse predicament at the moment.
Mother Nature definitely does not select between rich nor poor. Climate change has hit hard a couple of times over the past years, one can only be thankful when roof over ones head remains that way.
Stay safe!
So right @joanstewart, then tonight I heard they found a missing man's body this afternoon in the stream close to our local shopping centre and also in Pinetown at the Stapleton Road bridge in Sarnia, apparently two cars were swept away there! It's so very sad, water is so dangerous!
You also stay safe, the clouds were looking ominous this afternoon again!
Posted using Partiko Android
Thanks @squishysquid, we are very thankful! That wall turned out really nice, it's a dry stack wall using interlinking concrete blocks, it has a good foundation and a storm water drain behind it so water does not build up, it does look pretty once the groundcover is fully grown, we actually thinned it out mid summer, one could not even see the concrete wall then, it was lush and full!
Firstly I am glad you did it suffer to much damage the the pool area looks beautifully laid out, so sorry for the neighbor who lost everything that must be so devastating to have to deal with :(
Thanks for joining Wednesday Walk it is truly appreciated
Thank you for this tag @tattoodjay! We are really blessed to have escaped it so lightly, many have lost their lives as well, the news is coming through bit by bit as missing persons are found in streams and rivers, so sad!
Posted using Partiko Android
That is so sad I was reading a bit about t online,so tragic when people loose their lives
Oy Vay, it hit your side of the coast very badly Lady Joan, a house in Amanzimtoti was washed out to sea.
Scary stuff and I hear that the death toll is still climbing.
Glad that you guys are safe and so great that you are helping others!
Proud of you!
Blessings!
It was really scary when it just continued to rain so hard that whole night! Very sad about the poor people who lost their lives. Just glad we could help out with accommodation for a while at least! Thanks for stopping by @papilloncharity!
So crazy! I'm still so happy you guys are ok! Water is indeed quite a moving force. I hope everyone is able to rebuild soon and that no more bad weather is in the near future!
It certainly is an underestimated force! Thank goodness the second round was hardly anything to talk about, kind of disappeared, thank you for your kind words @plantstoplanks!
Congratulations, Your Post Has Been Added To The Steemit Worldmap!
Author link: http://steemitworldmap.com?author=lizelle
Post link: http://steemitworldmap.com?post=wednesday-walk-durban-storm-aftermath-at-lily-s-cottage
Want to have your post on the map too?