Residents in South Africa's coastal province of KwaZulu-Natal are battling the effects of one of the worst floods to hit the region on Thursday. At least 341 people are dead and hundreds had to leave their homes.
South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province was declared a disaster area after heavy rains flooded homes, destroyed roads and bridges, and disrupted shipping in Durban, one of Africa's busiest ports. Hundreds of people have been made homeless. As estimated by the authorities, the consequences of the disaster were felt by more than 40,000 residents.
"The extent of the damage, which is still being estimated, will certainly reach billions of rand," said Sihle Zikalala, prime minister of KwaZulu-Natal. He called the flooding "an unprecedented disaster in the history of our province and perhaps our country."
"It's bad, it's bad. We don't have anything. I don't even have a bed," Somi Malizole, a resident of Isiphingo settlement, told Reuters in an interview.
After a brief pause on Thursday, Synoptics predict that rain will return to the same areas on Friday and continue intermittently through the weekend as a cold front stops over the eastern part of the country.
The teams have been working to evacuate people from areas that have experienced "mudslides, floods and collapses of buildings and roads," Sipho Hlomuka, a representative of the KwaZulu-Natal authorities, tweeted. "Heavy rains have damaged power lines in many communities. Technical crews are working around the clock to restore power," Hlomuka added. Water supplies have also been damaged in many areas.
Reuters points out that Africa's southeastern coast is on the front line of dangerous natural elements that scientists say are becoming increasingly violent and destructive. They expect the situation to get much worse in the coming decades.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, who visited the province on Wednesday to assess the damage and console bereaved families, spoke of a "catastrophe of enormous proportions" and acknowledged that it was "obviously a part of climate change."
"We can no longer put off what we need to do, the measures we need to take to deal with climate change. Our ability to manage natural disasters must be at a higher level," Ramaphosa said.
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