Write the hypothesis for the settlement development together with heavy rainfall impact negatively on mass movement in the Bluff in Durban
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Explanation:
Durban 11-05-2016 Madlala family being visited by the Mayor of Durban James Nxumalo. After they lost their child on the heavy rains. Picture by: Sibonelo Ngcobo
Durban - Engineers and excavators are clearing a landslide that has forced the closure of railway lines on the Bluff, inconveniencing commuters and sparking fears that nearby houses were under threat.
Heavy rainfall in Durban two weekends ago collapsed a steep bank, spilling saturated soil 50 metres down onto the lines.
A deluge of sand covered a stretch of the railway line at the bottom of Kings Rest Road forcing the closure of the line at Kings Rest railway station.
On Thursday, engineers, land surveyors and officials from the Passenger Rail Association of South Africa (Prasa), were on site assessing the situation.
Prasa spokesman, Zama Nomnganga, said the train service had been disrupted.
They were awaiting a technical report confirming the exact cause from Transnet Freight Rail, which uses this train line.
“We (Prasa) are operating until Wentworth Station. Buses are being used for our commuters going any further,” he said.
Langa Magwaza, a Bluff resident, said a neighbour walking his dogs notified him of the landslide a few metres away from his back wall.
“We are extremely concerned that if there is another heavy downpour the bank will collapse further and take part of our home with it. Engineers have assured us they are working on the matter,” he said.
Magwaza believes illegal dumping may have eroded the bank and in part led to the landslide. He said they had asked for a chain or bollards to be placed at the end of the road to prevent vehicles from driving on to the embankment to dump old building material and refuse.
A source said the embankment was 50m above the railway line and the landslide had left a 30m wide crevice.
Engineers have found several cracks a kilometre long along the embankment.
Two houses below the embankment could be affected if another portion of the bank were to collapse.
The source said a mass excavation and redesign of the slope would take place as soon as funding was available. Engineers would have to stabilise a massive stretch of the embankment to prevent landslides from reoccurring.
The source said overhead train power lines had to be switched off because at one stage sand piled up beneath the lines was so high a person standing on it could touch the line. Bluff ward councillor, Duncan Du Bois, recorded 318mm of rain at his home in the Grosvenor section of the Bluff on the weekend the landslide happened.