The Department of Cooperative Governance in KwaZulu-Natal says it is assessing the damage caused by the recent floods and it is in talks with the national government to declare the province a disaster area.
This comes as the province continues to battle with floods that have hit the area since last month.
Weather Services on Wednesday issued a warning of intense rain, following the flooding in Durban over the weekend.
Light rain continues to fall in the eThekwini Municipality. The rain began to fall around midday on Wednesday, not only in the city but also in a number of other parts of KwaZulu-Natal.
By Wednesday evening, several roads in and around Durban were inaccessible due to mudslides and parts of the road that had caved in.
At least 13 people have died following floods across the province, since the end of last week and hundreds have been left homeless.
The department’s spokesperson Siboniso Mngadi says, “We have been engaging with the national minister, MEC Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi also looking into this assessment report. But what we have managed to consolidate and to finalise all the costs because yesterday it continued to rain and it caused further damage to roads that were already damaged. So this also delayed our assessment because we need to consolidate and have an estimate of how much it will cost to repair infrastructure.”
Severe weather warnings from the SAWS forced the early closure of schools in KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday.
VIDEO: Calls for KwaZulu-Natal to be declared a disaster area as floods persist:
Localised flooding is believed to have impacted informal settlements, houses, and some businesses.
