Heavy rain in country’s interior claims 10 lives

The heavy rain in the country’s interior has claimed at least 10 lives.

A passer-by reported seeing the bodies of two people who’d apparently drowned in the flooding Apies River. Tshwane Emergency Services say the search for bodies seen in the river in the north of Pretoria has however been suspended for the day.

?Number of structures damaged in western parts the Tshwane metro due to Saturday’s severe storms | ?@Binx_ZA pic.twitter.com/VvDPINvkIx

— Gauteng Weather (@tWeatherSA) October 14, 2018

Spokesperson Johan Pieterse says they received a tip off Sunday morning that a passer-by had seen two bodies of people who’d apparently drowned in the river.

Pieterse says the flow of the Apies River was too strong for rescue personnel to continue working:

“No, nobody injured as yet. Not that we are aware of, but we did get a message from a person this morning that he saw two bodies in the Apies river as he passed by. Now that cannot be confirmed… We sent out our team immediately, and the SAPS diving unit, and they were searching for five hours since the morning – but the flow of the river is just too strong at the moment. We cannot put any teams personnel into the river or any boat. So the search will continue tomorrow.”

This as rain persists across Gauteng, with heavy downpours in places.

Earlier this weekend, eight people were killed in two separate crashes in Mpumalanga – both in the Mbombela-Barberton area – which authorities blamed on the wet weather.

Meanwhile, Johannesburg Emergency Services says disaster monitoring teams remain on high alert as heavy rains have rendered the roads slippery.

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