There were dramatic scenes on the N2 on Saturday when rescue workers, rushing to the scene of a fatal accident, narrowly escaped becoming victims themselves as catastrophe struck and the road collapsed metres behind them.
There were dramatic scenes on the N2 on Saturday when rescue workers, rushing to the scene of a fatal accident, narrowly escaped becoming victims themselves as catastrophe struck and the road collapsed metres behind them.
A witness to the aftermath of the head-on crash, 23km from Grahamstown on the N2 to Port Elizabeth, described how paramedics had to fight their way through bush to retrieve life-saving equipment and worked in the dark and pouring rain, a growing torrent threatening nearby, to save the lives of the victims.
The witness, who asked not to be named, said it appeared that a car had hit a pothole and careened into the path of another vehicle. According to later reports, one of the four occupants of a grey Jetta was dead when the medics arrived. The other car, a white VW Polo, had only one occupant.
But emergency personnel who had rushed to the site of the crash late on Saturday afternoon had almost met with disaster themselves, the witness said as, with a loud rumble, the road collapsed into a deep sinkhole, only a few metres behind them.
Stunned at the unexpected turn of events, they now faced the daunting task of getting a seriously injured person to hospital while negotiating the gaping hole, estimated at 25 metres wide and 50 metres deep.
The paramedics were forced to fight their way through the bush on the side of the embankment to retrieve their rescue equipment from the other side of the sinkhole. They worked tirelessly in the rain and dark, the witness said, the noise of a powerful stream gushing below over the debris from the highway a reminder of the growing threat.
The victims were taken to a hospital in Port Elizabeth.
On Saturday night a false rumour circulated suggesting that a vehicle had fallen into the sinkhole, and as official spokesmen were neither able to confirm nor deny such rumours, they rapidly gained momentum.
A visit on Sunday by Grocott's Mail to the sinkhole,1.5km beyond the Alicedale turn-off near Pumba game park, suggested that a build-up of flood waters after weeks of persistent rains had eroded the earthworks on one side of the raised embankment supporting the main highway between Port Elizabeth and East London. The embankment had collapsed, taking the tarmac with it.
Several news organisations have been quoting unnamed traffic officials as saying the hole in the highway and embankment will take at least three months to repair. The Grocott's Mail GPS device indicates the coordinates of the N2 wash-out at S 33 24.863' and E 26 21.862'.
Later on Saturday night it was reported that the roads between King William's Town and Peddie; between East London and Port Alfred and between Bathurst and Port Alfred were closed due to flooding, while the road between Kenton-on-Sea and Alexandria was closed due to mudslides.
By Sunday morning provincial traffic officials, many of whom had worked through the night, had set up a roadblock 12km from Grahamstown, at the Kenton-on-Sea turn-off, preventing drivers from continuing on the N2.
By Sunday afternoon, it was reported that the R72 route between Port Elizabeth and East London had reopened to light vehicles, but not to trucks and other heavy vehicles.
Ndlambe municipal and fire staff and National Sea Rescue Institute volunteers have been struggling to contain damage from severe flooding in Port Alfred, where at least one house was washed away and others severely damaged on Saturday morning. SABC News reported yesterday that Port Alfred had 387mm of rain in the past week – the highest in the province.
Meanwhile local farmers have reported some of the highest rain figures in the province, with one who prefers to remain anonymous recording more than 700mm in one week. He said this was the equivalent of a good annual rainfall figure. Several farmers have reported that their dams have been breached, while others have lost water pumps in the floods.
