A WATERFALL businesswoman jogged the memories of many with pictures from her father’s keepsake Sunday Tribune booklet, which recounted some of the damage caused by floods affecting KwaZulu-Natal in 1987.
Tarah van Wyk was amazed at how similar the destruction and devastation resulting from the past week’s heavy rains was to that of 35 years ago, when her father (Errol) hauled out the 37 glossy page booklet.
As part of their efforts to assist flood victims at the time, the Sunday Tribune produced the booklet titled “Izikhukhula, The ’87 Natal Flood”, which cost R4.
The front cover carried a jaw-dropping shot of a washed away section of the main road that ran over the Tugela River.
“The Tribune put out a plea to raise funds for flood relief and my dad bought a booklet,” she said.
Van Wyk said she could not recall the events of the 1987 catastrophe as she was 4-years-old at the time, but her parents remembered it well.
When the latest floods occurred, Errol decided to show his family the booklet.
She thought it was very interesting and decided to make the pictures public with a post on Facebook, but was “surprised” by the reaction it received.
“It went a bit crazy. It was shared over 2 000 times. I have been inundated with messages and friend requests.
“People started recounting their own memories and experiences from 1987,” she said.
Van Wyk said both instances showed the power of nature.
“We take it for granted, but nature showed how destructive it can be.
“Thirty five years after the previous flooding, we are dealing with the same issues. It has nothing to do with our infrastructure, it's just that it couldn’t handle that sort of power,” she said.
Of all the pictures in the booklet, Van Wyk was moved by a shot captioned “The Bridge of Death” on one of the inside pages.
“The photo showed two guys moments before they got swept away on the Umdloti River Bridge,” she said.
Errol said his interest in the booklet stemmed from him being a long time canoeist who was well acquainted with the uMgeni River.
“We did all our Dusi Canoe Marathons on the river and my interest was to see the river’s power at those water levels.
“Normally the Blue Lagoon area was quite placid but the pictures taken showed the horrific power of the water coming through,” he said.
He believed that although the Inanda dam was not fully constructed at the time, it was still able to retain some of the water and prevented the further loss of lives.
“The 1987 floods were just heavy rains that caused destruction and not a result of a cyclone, similar to what we had this week.
“When I think about 1987, I think about the destruction to infrastructure. We thought those bridges, which were meant to last over 50 years, would never come down, but they were dropped in such a hurry by sheer power.
“It teaches us that we can build man-made structures to withstand these forces, but when nature releases its full might it will cause damage, unless they are engineered to withstand such forces,” he said.
Errol said he kept the booklet because he had spent much time on rivers and he thought it would be of interest to his children and grandchildren.
“I thought they might never experience something like this,” he said.
He had it stashed in a place where he kept all his old canoeing memorabilia.
“In 1987 social media and cell phones didn’t exist so you wouldn't get that sort of info as quickly as we do via online platforms presently.
“Back then it would have taken weeks for us to know and understand the full impact of the floods and the suffering of people.
“This has increased my appreciation of social media platforms, which has its advantages and disadvantages,” he said.
The 72-year-old Errol said he was chuffed that keeping the booklet “hasn't been a waste of time”.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE