South Africa Declares Floods a Disaster After More Than 300 Die
The death toll in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal has reached more than 300 after devastating floods wreaked havoc in the area.
Local authorities are calling for a state of disaster to be declared after some areas saw month’s worth of rainfall in one day.
Officials have called it “one of the worst weather storms in the history of our country”.
Mudslides have trapped people under buildings, with more floods expected.
There are reports that the rescue effort is being hampered by poor visibility as a helicopter continues to bring people back to safety.
Community volunteers waded into the muddy river, taking turns to hack away at the branches using machetes and removing debris and rubbish that had washed downstream.
Jomba Phiri, who lives in the region’s main city, Durban, said his house had been swept away in the floods.
Parts of the crucial N3 highway which connects Durban to the economic heartland of Gauteng province have been blocked.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has visited the area and pledged to help.
He also described the disaster as a force of nature, which some have disagreed with. They blame poor drainage and badly built houses in low-lying areas for the high death toll.
Durban Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda denied that poor drainage was to blame, saying the scale of the flood was unexpected.
Scenes of destruction are still evident throughout the area. Some of the roads to the port of Durban are impassable after the swollen river washed mud and debris onto the roads. Operations at the port have now been suspended. A shipping container warehouse near a busy highway was severely flooded, and hundreds of containers were washed away.