Since last weekend, KwaZulu Natal has been experiencing extreme rainfall conditions. The death toll during the flooding has risen to nine individuals. An orange level 5 warning for severe thunderstorms across uMdoni, eThekwini, uMkhambathini, Ray Nkonyeni, and uMzumbe municipalities was issued, and Durban and the South Coast were hard hit.
The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC, Rev Thulasizwe Buthelezi warned that the rain was expected to impact road infrastructure in and around the eThekwini Metro which was already experiencing flooding, underscoring the severity of the situation. About 160 affected people from Lamontville were relocated to temporary decent accommodation while a permanent solution for their discomfort was being sought.
ENCA reports that Gift of the Givers is expressing its frustration with the KwaZulu-Natal government. This comes as thousands have once again been displaced by heavy rains and flooding. The aid organization says government must stop reacting and put preventative measures in place.
Meanwhile, affected residents are trying to rebuild their lives as families come to terms with the loss of loved ones.
Human Settlements Minister Thembi Simelane was expected to visit Durban this past week to assess government’s response to the disaster.
As I transmit this, the Cape Town Cycle Tour, previously called the Argus Cycle Tour, is taking place. The 109km long route started anywhere from 06h15 to 08h57, depending on your seeding, and the shorter 42km race started at 10h00.
The cut off for the long race is 5pm, but the cut off for the 42km race is 2pm, so just 4 hours for the short race. The weather is predicted to be clear, and hopefully not too hot, but the killing factor is usually the wind, which can make life very difficult for the return trip from the southern peninsula back to the Cape Town finish.
HAMNET is not directly involved in the comms for this race, but we are always on standby if a disaster of some sort strikes. Our regional director Michael ZS1MJT has a daughter doing her first race today, so we’ll hear all the sweaty detail during the coming week.
Michael’s other daughter lives in Australia, in Brisbane to be precise, and on the promontory in front of Brisbane, directly exposed to Tropical Cyclone ALFRED, which will have crossed the shores from directly east by the time this bulletin is heard.
Australians have been watching the Cyclone for several days now, as it hovered a couple of hundred kilometres off the coast, and felt the dread build up, as ALFRED decided to take a very slow and leisurely approach to the coast line. Winds have been extreme, whipping up enormous waves, and rainfall has been aplenty, though, by Friday evening our time, the storm had not yet crossed the coast.
Michael reassures me that his daughter and her husband have very sensibly taken their campervan, and driven off 250km to the west, and are staying at a camping resort until the storm has lost strength, which is expected to happen once ALFRED makes landfall.
The Queensland authorities have sensibly been very proactive in their preparations for the arrival of ALFRED, encouraging evacuations, shoring up coastal properties with sandbags, and opening shelters early in case houses are destroyed. By Friday evening, our time, 330000 houses were already without power.
The storm struck the coastline at about 1am Saturday morning, their time, and fortunately diminished in strength to become a Tropical Low, by definition. That didn’t stop 100 to 110 km/h winds, the uprooting of trees, damage to houses and cars, and the destruction of powerlines. As of Saturday evening, Australian time, no casualties had been reported.
Writing in theconversation.com, Savannah Meacham says that she is experiencing retraumatisation, where we re-live stress reactions experienced as a result of previous traumatic events when faced with a new, similar incident.
As a researcher in emergency responses to a broad range of disasters, Savannah says she understands why she is feeling like this. However, many people may not realize the stress they are experiencing right now is related to an earlier disaster or traumatic event in their life. That earlier disaster could be another cyclone, or a different event, such as a flood or bushfire.
Some signs and symptoms of retraumatisation might be:
Intrusive thoughts
Nightmares and having trouble sleeping
Hypervigilance (for example, feeling “on edge” all day)
Sensitivity to triggers such as loud noises
Feelings of isolation
Thinking about, planning or even attempting suicide
Panic attacks
Using/abusing substances, such as alcohol and other drugs, and
An increase in unhealthy behaviours (for example, being more prone to aggression or violence).
Cyclone Alfred may be awakening memories and feelings, and the re-emergence of those stress reactions can be confronting. It can feel like re-opening a wound that hasn’t quite healed.
People begin to understand the effects of being exposed to multiple disasters – bushfires, cyclones, floods, and let’s not forget the COVID pandemic – that erode our resilience.
This type of multiple exposure influences our feelings of safety, security and even our hope for the future, all increasing the risk of poorer mental health.
For people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), retraumatisation may cause them to relive their past traumas in intense detail. It can feel like past traumatic events are happening all over again.
Thank you to Savannah for explaining why we feel what we feel.
Well, one good thing, people, is that the threatening asteroid, named 2024 YR4, which was anticipated potentially to hit earth in 2032, has now been more precisely tracked, and the risk of collision with earth has been reduced from a 2.8% risk originally, and now stands at 0.001%, which is regarded in scientific circles as essentially zero! I’m sure you’ll agree this is very reassuring indeed.
This is Dave Reece ZS1DFR, feeling safe to hang out the washing after all, and reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.