Swept away

08 April 2022

 

As the rains continue to pour down and the raging floods sweeping everything in their paths and leaving destruction behind, screams are heard all across the province as communities becomes victims if the monstrous weather. Media continues to cover the devastations across the province of KZN caused by this natural disaster and the whole world is sympathizing with he victims and sending love.

 

12:30

 

Xolani and Bheki

 

"You know what man, I told you that we should have waited until the rains died down before we hit the road." a visibly irritated Bheki says to his friend as they walk in the pouring and windy rain. The two best friends were not home when the rains started pouring down and they are still miles out from reaching their shack. All the roads are water-logged, and some of them have been blocked by trees that have fallen because of the strong winds. Some people have abandoned their cars that have been swept to the side walk and ran for cover to any nearest building.

"Oh man, you are worried about being wet and cold? I am worried about the shack we are going to right now..." Xolani says as he wipes his face. "That place was already falling apart, you can imagine how it is now...we will be lucky if we find it still standing. Did you see that house on the corner? I mean, who would have thought a house like that would one day fall from the rain? This weather is really crazy man..."

"Yeah well...now I regret that we went out today, I'm so cold." Bheki says as he puts a jacket over his head to block the rain from hitting his face. "Yeah, you are always greedy Bhiza mfwethu(bro)...you always want more money as if what we do is an honest job." Xolani says as he also covers his head with a hoodie. They walk until they reach what looks like a wooden bridge that crosses over a raging and overflowing river. There's no other way of getting across to the other side for them other than this broken bridge, unless they take a different route which may be an extra 6 miles.

"Oh man, how are we meant to cross here Bheki? Do you see over there? That bridge is broken man...there's no way we can make it across there." a weary Xolani says with a trembling voice as they both look at each other in shock. Clearly this is not what they had expected because across the bridge home is not that far away.

"What else can we do man? We are going to have to cross here...otherwise we'll have to take the longer route but we'll probably die of cold along the way." Bheki says as he shrugs. "No ways man, we can't cross here...I don't think those threads can take our weight. We will fall into the river and be swept away." Xolani shouts in panic as fear sets on his eyes. "Shhhhh man...do you hear that?" Bheki shouts back as he tries to listen to something. "No man...what is it?" a puzzled Xolani. "I hear a voice somewhere man...I think there's someone down there." Bheki says as he points down to the river.

Now they are both looking down to the raging and furious river to see who is screaming.

"Help...please help..." a distant voice screams. Now Xolani opens his eyes wide and shouts, "Oh sh*t man, yes I see her...there is a little girl down there." in panic as he points with his finger. "Where man, I can't see..." Bheki shouts back as he also tries to look hard. "There man...look...that tree branch. Do you see? There's a little girl there." Xolani says in panic.

"Oh yeah I can see her now...you got to help her man..." Bheki shouts anxiously. "But how? We can't get to her man..." Xolani says as he panics. "So what? We leave her like that? No man...she's just a little girl, we have to help her." Bheki insists. "Look I will have to try and cross over because she's on that side and the branch she is holding on can fall anytime time now. Just wait here while I cross over."

"Bheki man...that's really not a a great Idea..." a panicking Xolani shouts as he watches his friend bravely walking towards a damaged wooden bridge. "Hold on okay? I'm coming to get you Bheki shouts as he looks down at the terrified-looking little girl that is holding on a weak branch for dear life. She only has her head and shoulders above water and the rest of the body is under the powerful current. Bheki is trying to carefully thread on the broken wood as he holds on tight on the side ropes that hold the bridge together. 'I'm almost there...' he thinks to himself as he turns and look back at his friend who is far off now.

One more jump over this gap under his feet he will be across, but as he sets his foot he slips and falls through the hole and down to the river. He takes the girl with him as he falls on the branch that she was holding on. "Bheki..." shouts Xolani as he watches his friend being swept away by the powerful current. "Bheki...no...Bheki...Oh my God...Bheki, no, no, no...Bheki." he screams as he desperately tries to follow his friend down the river but he current is so strong that he can't catch up with him. He doesn't see the little girl but he can see Bheki's head moving fast down stream. He runs down until he reaches a point where he can't follow anymore because big trees are blocking the path.

He watches on as his friend disappears at the bend downstream. "Oh God Bheki no...Bheki." he shouts on top of his voice as he falls on his knees helplessly and the pouring rain continues to shower on his body.

15:20

 

Zandile

 

"Mama, we can't stop this water...it is coming from every corner of the roof. What are we going to do?" panicking Thokozile shouts as she desperately tries to close one hole in the roof with a towel but it doesn't look like it's working. "Fana, don't we have anymore buckets that we can place on top of the furniture? Everything is in this house is getting soaked...there is too many leaks on the roof." Zandile shouts in panic as she also tries to move some stuff around in small lounge which has also been flooded from every direction.

"No mama there are no more buckets...we are going to have to find another way." Fana says as he tries to sweep some water out of the kitchen door with a broom. Every room in this house is flooded because the house is almost at the foot of the hill and the water is coming from above and through leaks on the roof.

"Oh my God, everything in this lounge is soaked...the sofas; the coffee table...I don't even think that TV is still working anymore." Zandile says with a sad face. "Mama, what are we going to do because clearly we can't sleep in this house. It is water-logged." Thokozile asks as she looks to have given up on trying to close the leaks on the roof. "But where can we go mntanami(my child)? Where? It is pouring outside, plus we can't leave our things here." Zandile asks with a worried face as she looks at her children with sadness.

"Mama we can go to the hall for shelter tonight and come back here in he morning for our things. Look at this house mama, where are we going to sleep here?" Thokozile says with a desperate voice as she looks around the lounge. "But Thokozile, what if we come back in the morning and all our things are gone?" Zandile asks with a shaky voice as she dreads what could happen to her place.

"Thoko is right ma..." Fana says with a voice as he emerges from the kitchen. "We really can't stay here, it is risky. I'm not sure how much water can this roof take. We just need to grab the essential things and try to get to the hall and then we can come back tomorrow morning if the rains stop. We will assess the damage and then take it from there."

"But what if the hall if full Fana? And then what?" a reluctant Zandile asks as she looks at all the stuff they have in the house. "Mama they can't turn us away..." Thokozile interjects but as Zandile attempts to respond a huge bang sounds from the roof and she doesn't have enough to react before comes collapsing on top of her. A big tree outside had fallen on top of the roof and it came crashing down. "Mama...Oh my God, mama..." Thokozile screams desperately. "Fana come quick..." she shouts as she calls on her brother.

They rush to try and lift the asbestos from on top of their mother...it is heavy. "Mama, are you alright?" shouts Fana as he tries with all his might to lift the roof up. He manages to lift it high enough for Thokozile to pull her mother from under there. "Oh my God Fana, uqulekile(she's unconscious)." she shouts anxiously as she touches her mother's face to see where the cut might be. She has a cut on her neck and there's blood coming from her head. "Mama, please wake up...please. Please mama." the two siblings call out desperately as they watch their mother lie on the wet floor.

***

 

16:20

 

The Nicholsons

 

Far away from here, in the beautiful suburbs of Umhlanga Rocks they are also not safe the ruthless weather that is tearing houses apart. While the family seems to be safe from this, they are shaken by what they have been seeing on the news since morning as they all sit on the warm lounge.

"This storm is really bad isn't it?" Jessica says as blanket covers the better part of her body. "Yeah it really is...all those people who have lost homes out there and the devastation this rain has caused? I'd say we are lucky to have shelter as a family." Ronald says with a sigh as he takes a sip of his beer. "I really feel sorry for all those people who live in the shacks, I can't even imagine what they must be going through right now. It is hard as it is that most of them are not working...now they will lose their homes too? I need to check on my friend Celiwe and Zama if they are okay." a worried-looking Chloe says as she continues to watch on the news.

"But those people are careless to be building shacks in places like those...something like this was bound to happen." Jessica says as she shakes her head but Chloe jumps in, "How can you say something like that?" she asks as she looks annoyed at her mom. "How can you be such a cold human being? We are talking about people's lives here mom, and you think this is the right for you to judge them?"

"Okay, that's enough..." Ronald says as he tries to put an end to this conversation but Chloe doesn't let up, "No dad..." she raises her voice. "You know what? Those people didn't choose to poor okay? They don't have the land because we dispossessed it from them and they don't have money to built fancy houses like ours because they have no jobs. Some of these people rely on that lousy government grant that doesn't do much for their families and some go to bed on an empty stomach. You think they chose that kind of life mom? Would you change places with them for just one day?"

"Alright, that's enough okay?" Jessica shouts in irritation. "First of all it is not our fault that these people are not working or that they receive lousy government grants. Isn't this the government they voted for? Now I'm not saying that it's their fault that they are in this situation but I'm saying that, building a shack in such places is dangerous."

This brings a little silence in the room as tension mounts.

"I need to go call my friends to check if they are okay..." Chloe says with an attitude as she stands up but before her mother could say anything they all hear and feel something like an earthquake. "What the hell is that?" Chloe asks as she stops moving. Both Ronald and Jessica stand as they both wonder what on earth is going on. "Is that an earthquake?" Chloe asks in panic as the house continues to shake, albeit mildly. "Nah...I don't think so..." Ronald says as he looks upstairs where bedrooms are. "Oh God...where is your brother?" Jessica shouts as she looks at Chloe who becomes wide-eyed because she realises that her little brother is upstairs in his room.

As she approaches the stairs to go get him a resounding quake hits the lounge that they all fall to the floor. They watch as the cracks on both sides of the walls threaten to tear the house in two. "Oh my God Ronald...Brian is upstairs..." Jessica shouts in panic as she remains on the floor. It looks like she may have injured herself.

As Ronald gets up from the floor another quake hit but this time it is bigger as the three can feel that the floor is shifting somewhat. "Mom, dad...what's going on?" a panicking Chloe asks anxiously as she starts to cry. Ronald tries to get up from the floor again because he is desperate to get upstairs to his son. "Ronald hurry please, I want my son...please God no..." Jessica screams as she is now also crying helplessly. As Ronald approaches the stairs a third quake hits and this time it's big. It hits so hard that the whole stairs leading up collapse and the two rooms up there fall over and showers of rain come through the open top.

"Oh my God...Brian...!!!" screams Chloe in utter shock of what is unfolding in front of her eyes. "Oh no, no, no...Brian!!!" Jessica shouts as she cries out loud. "Ronald please do something...oh no my baby. Not my baby...Brian!!!" she shouts again but Ronald is lost for words as he sees the upper rooms fall over, exposing all of them to the merciless showers.