Twenty-four blind people have been left stranded after the Jep Home for the Blind, in Durban, was flooded on Tuesday.
The Jep Home suffered major structural damage after a nearby bank collapsed, resulting in significant mudslides and flooding.
Large flows of sewage have also made their way into the home.
On Tuesday, Tracy Biggar-Botes, who manages the home, said they had been up since 1 am trying to clean up.
“We are dealing with a disaster. My blind people are in a state of panic. My immediate concern now is to evacuate them, but no one is helping us so far. The staff have been cleaning since dawn and we are doing our best to manage this disaster,” she said.
Biggar-Botes said that the home was not safe to live in as it was “completely underwater.”
Pastor Olive Smith, who works with blind people, said it was difficult to evacuate special needs people.
Smith said they were looking for an appropriate site to house them until the home had been cleared and safe for occupation.
“The problem is that they are blind so you cannot just put them in a community hall or a shelter with hundreds of other people, that would not work,” she said.
The eThekwini Municipality announced that all community halls were opened for people who had been left stranded by the heavy rains.
Disaster and rescue teams were also deployed throughout the city.
