Three killed in Durban as houses collapse after heavy rains

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) confirmed the incidents on Thursday, sending condolences to the three affected households.

Acting Cogta MEC Peggy Nkoyeni urged residents to be cautious and pay close attention to weather updates as the inclement weather was expected to continue along the coastal areas of the province.

These areas included Ugu, eThekwini, Ilembe and uMkhanyakude districts.

“We are appealing to residents to speedily report any incident to their nearest ward councillor, local municipality or district disaster management centre,” the department said on its official Twitter page.

Leon Fourie, the operations manager at Life Response 24/7, told TimesLive one of the incidents involved a man believed to be in his thirties who was killed on Thursday morning.

According to Fourie, a mudslide on a rear-facing bank had swept away two houses.

Three people in one of the houses escaped, while the 34-year-old man was trapped in bed and was killed, he was quoted as saying.

https://twitter.com/mtshali_zaba/status/1205021675491938305?s=20

KwaZulu-Natal has endured severe weather since October.

The body of a 62-year old flood victim was recovered last month after being missing for more than two weeks.

Last month, multiple tornadoes wreaked havoc in the province, leaving at least two dead and many homeless in New Hanover.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.