ON the evening of Monday the 11th of April, tragedy suddenly hit the Van Der Merwe’s family home- as the heavy rains quickly filled up the Umbilo River, which runs parallel to their back garden.

Julie Nel (Mechanical Projects Manager) received a phone call from her parents at 9PM, with the sad news of their home being flooded. She immediately called her Max in desperation and rushed over to fetch her niece’s and nephew as he lived nearby, whilst her parents attempted to salvage their home. When Julie arrived, Max appeared to already be on the scene, waist deep in the river trying to save the neighbour from drowning. Hours later Max’s own house was flooded. The very next day, our MP family came to the rescue and tried to assist with restoring the Van Der Merwe’s belongings.

Unfortunately, the family had lost everything and now as a family, their only choice is to recover their sentimental photos and belongings by making more memories.