KNYSNA NEWS - An 83-year-old man claims he was a mere 20 minutes away from certain death when a 3m-high wall collapsed right next to the bedroom door of his home at Amble Ridge Retirement Village in Knysna.

It occurred during the persistent downpour during the week of 7 September, when up to 40mm of rain was recorded in Knysna within a 12-hour period.

Don Vanlier, who moved into the village in May this year, says he became concerned about the structure of the wall sometime before the incident after noticing brown water leaking from behind the wall, and alerted management, who said they would "keep an eye" on it.

The octogenarian explains that he and his wife decided to downscale and move from Thesen Island to Amble Ridge, where he intended spending the rest of his life in retirement. "There's everything we need here. It's got a great clubhouse and all types of facilities. The hospital is nearby. This was our final move," says Vanlier.

But when they moved in a few months ago, they had their reservations about the block wall less than a metre from their bedrooms.

'Water and sand leaking through'
"We're not very fond of these type of walls, but my wife loves gardening and so we planted something like 800 plants, including English roses and a host of other plants."

But just a few weeks later, brown water and sand began leaking through the blocks in the wall. Vanlier says although he is not an engineer, his experience in the building industry of over 50 years told him something was not right.

"This really concerned me and I asked for a meeting with the developer and consulting engineer. We inspected the wall together and they told me not to worry," says Vanlier.

According to Serett Maree of Tuiniqua Consulting Engineers, at the time of the building inspection there wasn't anything to worry about. "I cannot comment further than that," he said.

Two weeks later, during the week of 7 September, Vanlier was inspecting the flowers – as he does at least three times a day – when he noticed a bulge in the wall.

'Thunderous sound and screams'
"It seemed like a dangerous situation and I was scared. I immediately informed management," he says. About 20 minutes later, Vanlier recalls, while sitting in his lounge, he heard what sounded like thunder, followed by screams.

"The domestic worker called us in a panic, and that's when we noticed the wall had come crashing down. I was standing there just 20 minutes earlier…"

Two hours later, another portion of the wall collapsed. This time it was on the property Vanlier's neighbour, a retired engineer who asked not to be named. He says that it was a traumatic experience.

"We stood and looked at this wall bulging and then it just burst in front of us," the neighbour relates.

"The rain should have never affected the walls the way it did," he says, adding that he believes construction flaws, such as poor drainage, are to blame. ''But the wall is being rebuilt and by all accounts it is being built to the specification it should have been constructed in the first place," he says.

Vanlier says he has since had meetings and several conversations with the management of Amble Ridge. Although they have apologised profusely, he says he is now consulting with his lawyers to decide what steps he will take, if any.

'No life was endangered'
In response to questions, Paolo de Grandis of Amble Ridge management released a statement, saying, "We confirm that a partially constructed wall did collapse during the recent exceptionally heavy rains. No person was injured as a result of the incident, and at no time was anyone's life endangered. As developers, we take the safety of our residents and homeowners very seriously and, in consultation with our engineers, urgent action has been taken to investigate the cause of the collapse and to prevent a reoccurrence. All damage resulting from this incident will be repaired. We regret the inconvenience experienced by the residents involved."

Albert Lombard of Lombkor Insurance Consultants says the incident was purely an act of God and wholly attributable to the recent heavy rains. Lombard also states that if the adjacent building sites had not been not there, the wall would not have collapsed. "There are new homes being built just above where the walls collapsed, so the ground is shifting a bit," he says.

"It's really a bizarre case and is not at all about construction flaws. There was a water build-up and as the site is a new construction area, the water had nowhere to go and pushed the wall down" he explains, adding, "It could happen to anybody."

Vanlier disagrees. "If it could happen to anybody then maybe more attention should be paid to the construction of the walls," he retorts, stating that from his work experience, even 100mm of rain should never result in a wall collapse. "If I had been there 20 minutes earlier, I would have been dead."

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