Several roads in the Durban area have been flooded after heavy downpours in the city and coastal areas on Saturday night. Reports have also been received of houses being flooded in areas in the northern part of the city and on the north coast as far as Ballito.
Rescue and emergency services report that residents needed to be evacuated from flooded homes in Verulam and surrounding areas.
Reports have also been received of damage to roads and bridges.
Emer-G-Med Kyle van Reenen explains, “Late on Saturday night Emer-Med Paramedics together with multiple emergency services had their hand full across the Greater eThekwini region after a daily usual rainfall, multiple calls came in through various support networks for localized flooding structural damage and residents stuck in the resources of their home worked through to assist those in need and no fatalities were reported at approximately 23:00 hours paramedics responded to a serious motor collision on the M4 Ruth First Highway southbound near Virginia airport, six people were treated for moderate injuring and were taken by ambulance to nearby hospital for further medical care.”
Lightning in Mbizana
Meanwhile, one person has lost his life after being struck by lightning while his other six family members were treated for minor injuries at the hospital in Mbizana under the Alfred Nzo District Municipality in the Eastern Cape.
The family members were struck by lightning following heavy rains in the Alfred Nzo District which caused havoc in the area. Scores of people were left homeless after a number of mud dwellings collapsed.
The eMaxesibeni Hospital labour ward was flooded, while a vehicle not far from the hospital was washed away. Alfred Nzo District Spokesperson, Lixolile Petela, says a disaster management team has been dispatched on the ground to conduct an assessment of the scale of damage in the affected areas.
“Currently, the major one that we can report is that there is a vehicle which was washed away at eMaxesibeni at Nkweceni river into Umzintlava river and the Labour ward in Emaxesibeni hospital was also flooded. But we are glad that no one was injured or no one lost life. Our disaster unit is still across at large in the district trying to find more incidents and doing more assessment.”
