A woman’s legs were broken after a torrent of water - caused by a burst pipe - crashed through her home in Moseley Park, near Pinetown.
|||A woman’s legs were broken after a torrent of water - caused by a burst pipe - crashed through her home in Moseley Park, near Pinetown.
Premilla Rajmohan, 56, was sweeping her lounge on Wednesday when the pipe that ran alongside her home in Rushbrook Road gave way and unleashed thousands of litres of water. It tore down the wall of her house, and she was pinned under a slab of concrete and household furniture.
The rush of water tossed Rajmohan’s furniture around her home like toys, and caused a mudslide that filled a section of her lounge.
Her son, Sanesh Hansraj, who was at work when the pipe burst just before 9am on Wednesday, rushed home when frantic neighbours called him.
When he arrived minutes later, his mother’s lower body was still pinned underneath the rubble. Outside his yard, his bakkie, which is usually parked alongside the pavement, sat precariously on the bank’s edge, which had earlier given way to the surge of water.
Had the bank eroded more, Hansraj’s bakkie would have crashed into his home.
“I was terrified when I got there and saw my mother trapped,” he said. “My only concern was for her and to free her.”
Along with concerned neighbours, Hansraj used a hammer to break through a lock on the gate to reach his mother.
His neighbours helped to lift the rubble off his mother while he freed her.
Paramedics arrived and took Rajmohan to RK Khan Hospital in Chatsworth. Hansraj said she was in a stable condition.
Bongi Ngcobo, who lives next to Hansraj, said her house was also damaged by the raging waters, which left every room caked in mud.
Ngcobo said she was doing her washing when she heard a strange noise.
“When I looked out my window all I saw was this wave of water gushing. It uprooted the lemon tree in my yard and I began screaming,”Ngcobo said.
“After calling the metro police, I rushed to my neighbour’s house to see if she was okay. When I got there I could hear her crying for help. Fortunately we were able to get her out, but even now, I still can’t believe what happened.”
On Wednesday, more than a dozen workers from the eThekwini water department were working frantically to repair the pipe. Workers had closed off sections of Rushbrook Road while a heavy-duty earth-moving vehicle dug up the road to get to the faulty pipe.
According to residents, the pipe had been leaking since last year and despite numerous attempts by the council, had never been properly repaired.
Hansraj said the council’s assessors had visited him yesterday and promised an investigation.
“They tell us that we must call our insurance and sort the problem. But where are we supposed to live in the meantime, as we had not budgeted for this? It is a real inconvenience because we must now also arrange a security guard to protect our property,” he said.
Ngcobo shares his concerns. “We have been left stranded, as if the pipe burst was our fault.”
A council spokesman was not available for comment last night. - Daily News
lee.rondganger@inl.co.za
Source: http://www.iol.co.za/woman-injured-in-pipe-burst-1.1060183
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