On First Avenue, Eastleigh, the centre of the Somali immigrants community, the start of the El Niño rains, eagerly anticipated after the worst drought in living memory, brought with it a familiar story.
As rainwater collected in the potholes scattered across the lunar-like surface, it mixed with sewage from burst underground connections. After the second downpour, the road was a stinking river, impassable for motor vehicles, forcing pedestrians into an ant-like procession along a pebble-strewn pavement and threatening an outbreak of cholera or typhoid.
