If you go down to the beach today…

If you go down to the beach today…

If you go down to the beach today: you might be in for a big surprise. The floodwaters bring a helluva LOT of stuff from inland to the sea.

Islands of trees. All kinds of infrastructure. So much flotsam and jetsom. And…

Snakes, spiders, sewage and pathogens!

Snakes

Yip! They get washed down with the floodwaters. They can actually swim quite well. But they get tired and going with the flow sometimes is the only way for them. Or they get into a tree or an island. We get these weird thickets of floating vegetation that look like islands going by. All the time in the floods. Out to sea, and washed up on the beach.

So, you could easily walk into a snake on the beach, after ANY flood. This has happened very many times!

Spiders

Got nowhere to go in a flood. Except down the valley. So the minute they see a floating object, or something fixed…like a log, boat or a kayak, they assemble en masse.

Actually…these insects, walk on water when they see a platform. We watched today as the spiders and ilk made for the swing bench here at the Umzimkulu Marina all morning. Skipping across the surface in sheer desperation to get out of the raging waters. And away from the many, many fish that just suddenly appear when it floods here. The fish were swimming all over the garden. Wish I knew what they were but they were big.

Then, in clear sight, a kingfisher appeared. And joyously picked off the buffet of delicious-for-birds treats on the bench. And the kayaks.

Sewage

The Harding Farmers Dam has burst it’s banks (read more about that here) and all that terrifying water is on its merry way here. To Port Shepstone, and the rest of the tourist-dependant Hibiscus Coast.

You can smell it everywhere.

Pathogens

All this sewage, which is meant to go to a plant and be treated, is now, under direct ANC guidance, discharged directly into the rivers and the environment (Harding). This means that if you get a cut or a scratch, and you go in this water, you could get REALLY sick.

Do not go into any brown water. Ever!

Read about that all right HERE.

The ONLY good news is that the Agulhas Current is screaming mad at the moment. She has come right in close and literally is sandwiching the brown water against the coast. She will eventually prevail against the constant onslaught and the counter-currents and will whip the evidence away.

Avoid the beach today!