Rain exposes infrastructure cracks
Isn't water just amazing, especially the powerful impact of rain?
Many of the great natural formations throughout the world have been sculpted as a result of water erosion, such as the Grand Canyon. We are talking about some serious force.
Rain that brings about floods are among the most powerful weapons of nature – reminding us just again the vulnerability of humans.
This is after all the funny thing about mankind – sometimes, because we deem ourselves to be so intellectual, we harbour this inflated ego about our importance and worth in the greater scope of the universe.
For example, earth is 120 times smaller than Jupiter and has 317 times less mass than our neighbourly planet. A study of the universe reveals we are but a very tiny speck in the cosmos, but in our mind we are the centre of it all.
Nature therefore has a way to literally bring us down to earth again, especially when she bites.
Who will forget October 2012 when the eastern coast of America, including proud New York, was hit by Hurricane Sandy? The footage was splashed all over the significant global news networks – it was more intriguing than the Oscar trial.
Still today, the impact of that super storm is felt in America, with many residents still bemoaning the damages to their homes with repairs it seems not having been properly addressed by government.
America, with all its wealth and power was unable to do anything in the wake of this catastrophe. It was the same with Hurricane Katrina that plunged Louisiana and New Orleans into chaos on August 29, 2005.
America must have realised by now missiles cannot do much against rushing water, neither can you pay or sweet-talk a hurricane or a tornado to calm down. When it comes to nature, ones status means nothing.
Mother nature sweeps aside the poor and the wealthy, and it has no regard for race or tribe.
Recently, England also bore the brunt of nature’s wrath when they experienced extreme flooding. By some reports it was the United Kingdom’s wettest winter since records began in 1910.
In South Africa, we are lucky we don’t yet have devastating storms, such as the Indian Ocean Tsunami that hit the Philippines in 2004 that took the lives of 230 000 people.
We also don’t have freezing winters, so when Gauteng experienced its wettest month of March in 14 years, it is only natural for many to moan their lot.
For almost two weeks in Gauteng and across the country the rain sowed havoc, while numerous drownings were recorded since the beginning of the month.
And true to her “nature”, the incessant rain has exposed Gauteng’s fragile infrastructure, just as she constantly exposes the fragile nature of mankind’s mortality.
The rain has done what the media cannot do with the same impact – it has brutally exposed the government’s woeful ability to keep the country glued together.
As the rains kept falling, roads were turned into horror stories of potholes and sinkholes.
As the water dammed up, the stormwater drainage system in so many towns and cities, including at home, simply proved inadequate to handle to deluge. And so homes and even businesses struggled to keep the water at bay.
And while the weather raged it became literally darker around us as supposed coal supply were left wet causing Eskom to implement load-shedding.
But we all know that the coal is only part of the problem – the well-known argument is that our power stations have been for a long time been outdated and need some serious upgrades.
As a result, poor maintenance and mother nature has resulted in power outages, such as the one in Impala Park, leaving residents fuming.
The constant rains exposed the truth of a failing infrastructure that is critical in its capacity to function properly.
And yes, let us also blame the E-tolls, because apart from shoddy roads, more motorists are taking alternative roads to avoid dishing out their children’s lunch money to Sanral.
The weather has left the local government with a lot work to do, but the rain has reminded those who reign in this country that we must know our place as mankind, and without proper maintenance, we are doomed to wander in the dark, forever falling into potholes.
