KZN floods leave a trail of destruction, one death reported

One person has died, and a number of roads and infrastructure were severely damaged by the recent floods in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) at the weekend.

This was confirmed on Monday by Premier Sihle Zikalala.

“We have received one body which could be ascribed to the floods at our Phoenix mortuary,” said Zikalala.

Zikalala, accompanied by members of the Executive Council and eThekwini Municipality leadership as well as councillors, on Monday visited areas which were hit by the weekend floods that left a trail of destruction in many areas around Durban.

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“The M4, which was already closed due to the previous floods that took place in April, the road got affected and was severely damaged between La Mercy and Seatides and it is impossible to use that road,” Zikalala said.

“We are working to ensure that we fill that gap that was eroded. It might take us another month to have the Umdloti bridge, or the La Mercy bridge fixed and properly repaired.”

Last week Zikalala assured residents that while the province had barely recovered from the previous deadly floods, all disaster management teams were on full alert.

This was shortly after the SA Weather Service had on Thursday issued a flood warning that, should the province receive an additional 20mm of rain it will experience further floods as the ground was still saturated.

Last month, 448 fatalities were confirmed to be the official figure from the floods.

A total of 88 people were still reported missing, with 6,895 being homeless and 50 injured.

A total of 27,069 households were affected, with 8,584 houses totally destroyed and 13,536 partially destroyed.

“Indeed, these floods are the worst in history and have unleashed the biggest humanitarian crisis and damage,” said Zikalala.