The tragedy marked “one of the darkest moments in the history” of the KwaZulu-Natal province, the regional government said in a tweet.
“We join the families in mourning the lives that we have lost as a result of the heavy rains,” the government wrote. “We wish to commend disaster management teams for the tireless work they have been doing to evacuate affected communities.”
A bridge near Durban was swept away, leaving people stranded on either side.
“The heavy rainfall that has descended on our land over the past few days, has wreaked untold havoc and unleashed massive damage to lives and infrastructure,” it said.
The provincial government said later that it continues to work with the national government to ensure that relief is provided to all those that have been affected.
Teams worked to evacuate people in areas that experienced “mudslides, flooding and structural collapses of buildings and roads,” Sipho Hlomuka, a member of the Executive Council for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs in KwaZulu-Natal, said on Twitter Tuesday.
“The heavy rains have affected power lines in many municipalities with technical teams working around the clock to restore power,” Hlomuka added.
Flooded power stations were inaccessible in the hard-hit eThekwini municipality, Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda told reporters, while water mains were also damaged.
The local government asked private and religious institutions to assist with emergency relief operations, and have requested help from the South African National Defense Force to provide aerial support, he said.
The extreme…
Source : cnn
