At the end of one of the hottest summers we have experienced, it is no act of fate that the heavy rains have come.
At the end of one of the hottest summers we have experienced, it is no act of fate that the heavy rains have come.
Around this time of the year, late summer and early autumn the streets of Makana and their inhabitants receive nature’s showers.
But what seems to be a problem is when the storm drains on the side of those roads are blocked with garbage and plant growth, this causes an excessive amount of run-off.
This not only affects the cars that pass by the upper end of High street but also the residents of that area.
All over Grahamstown, residents are taking matters into their own hands and cleaning up their areas.
One of these residents is Jeannie Hall who says water has been gushing over the road for some time now, not helped by the fact that the municipality mows the lawn on the open public area.
This allows the debris to gather in the drains and after noticing the effect of this, she decided to spray weed killer into the drains to try to stop the blockages.
Hall says: "After a storm this has affected residents and motorists driving up Hill Street and while every resident has tried to clean their part of the gutter, we need to work together."
Hall spent two hours on the phone last Thursday until she found somebody to listen to her. She now believes she is making progress.
Her neighbour Carol said nobody has regularly been cleaning the drains.
“We had to do the work ourselves and we have been living in this house for five years”, she says.
Yoliswa Ramakolo, the communications officer for Makana said she had not been aware of the problem and that it had been "unfortunate" because the drains in that area had been cleared in March by the storm water unit.
Further heavy rains caused the problem.
She says the municipality will regularly clear the drains in the future. Ramakolo said she would follow up on the problem for the residents.
