The official death toll from storm winds and torrential rain that struck parts of KwaZulu-Natal earlier this week, has risen to seven. The latest two bodies of a woman in her twenties and a teenage girl were found in a canal on Bayhead Road in Durban.
The provincial Department of Cooperative Governance says in a statement that the hardest hit areas include Phoenix, Inanda, Ntuzuma, KwaMashu, Pinetown, and Folweni in the Durban Metro. On the South Coast the hardest hit municipalities are Umzumbe, Umdoni at Scottburgh, and the Umuziwabantu Municipality between Port Shepstone and Kokstad.
Trail of destruction
The KwaZulu-Natal government says about 70 houses were completely destroyed in the eThekwini Metro and a further 110 houses were partially damaged. Roofs were damaged, walls collapsed and houses were flooded. This has affected a total of 552 people, leaving 151 homeless.
“We can confirm that at this stage there are two bodies that are being recovered at Bayhead, this is according to the information that we have received from the South African Police Services which then brings the total of bodies that have been recovered to seven at this point,” says Department of Cooperative Governance spokesperson Nonala Ndlovu
Residents of Folweni are cleaning up their houses after they were a meter deep under floodwater. They are calling on government to relocate them to safer areas.
The floodwater destroyed furniture and appliances, and people say they are left with only the clothes on their back. 56-year-old Hlengiwe Yinda and 61-year-old Jabu Khathi say over the years they have been calling on the municipality to improve the drainage system.
“Every year when the floods start, I am always affected because my furniture gets damaged as water floods my entire house and all my electrical items get damaged. This is not the first time this has happened. We are always promised by authorities that this ravine would be fixed.”
Another resident says, “They promised us that the pipes would be fixed, water managed to get in through the windows. We would like the government to intervene and assist us with fixing the road that slides the water through into our houses. We need bigger pipes in the ravine. We also want authorities to move us into a safe place where we can live in peace.”
Meanwhile, Phumlani Mthembu says it is the third time his house has been flooded.
” I can’t even begin to explain this because I bought my furniture after my house was flooded last year. This is the third time being flooded. I still have the receipts for my furniture and the prices as you can see this is the only furniture I am left with because the rest of my furniture was washed away by the floods. There’s nothing here that you can use because it’s all damaged. ”
Rescue teams have been on the ground helping those affected by the floods:
NGOs assisting
Non-profit organisations are collecting necessities to help storm victims. Rachel Kinloch of the Angel Network Durban says they are even using social networks to collect goods.
” It seems to be unbelievable that Durban again has had to deal with another natural disaster, our biggest concern at the moment is the amount of roof sheets and material that was blown away. We are going to be focusing on building material and trying to get the communities to rebuild and come together and help everyone who lost their homes. What we use is social media, we are on Facebook and we are on Instagram, when something happens, we put up a disaster plea and we give our banking details, funding is very important.”
Search and rescue teams are still searching for missing people, while disaster management teams are assessing the extent of the damage.
