Warning! Heavy rainfall amounts exceeding 20 mm expected for KwaZulu-Natal

Heavy rainfall amounts exceeding 20 mm expected for KwaZulu-Natal Photo: GCIS / Flickr

KZN floods: Death toll at 445 while 48 still missing, says Cogta

KZN Cogta revealed that 48 people are still unaccounted for following the devastating floods that ravaged the province and took lives.

Warning! Heavy rainfall amounts exceeding 20 mm expected for KwaZulu-Natal

Heavy rainfall amounts exceeding 20 mm expected for KwaZulu-Natal Photo: GCIS / Flickr

Approximately 48 people have still not been accounted for in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) following last month’s devastating floods, according to authorities. KZN Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) says that the death toll has reached 445.

Homes, businesses, water and roads remain damaged in KZN

The floods not only took lives but also destroyed homes, businesses and key water and road infrastructure. The statement said that more than 7 200 homes were completely destroyed due to the floods.

The damages to public and private infrastructure in KZN are estimated to be around R25 billion. The KZN government says that search and rescue operations are ongoing for the 48 missing people.

In KwaCutshwayo, west of Durban, more than 20 people are still unaccounted for. The missing people are spread largely among four families. A number of families in and around Durban have not found the bodies of their missing loved ones.

A woman who lost eight family members hopes to find their bodies

SABC News reported that Sinenhlanhla Hlope was at home with eight other family members when mudslides washed their home away. Hlope revealed that her mother’s body had been found but seven of her loved ones are still missing. 

Among those missing is Hlope’s one-year-old son. Hlope believes that her family members did not survive the floods and asked on those searching to not give up.

“There are eight members from our family who were washed away by floods, we believe they are late, we found our mother at the Desai River few kilometres away from here, dead. We have buried her, but the other seven people are still missing. We will only get closure by at least burying our loved ones,”

said Hlope.
More than 7 200 homes were completely destroyed following the flooding in KZN. Photo: GCIS / Flickr

No other funds will be allocated to KZN for floods this year – Treasury

Senior official in the National Treasury Mampho Modise said that R1 billion has already been allocated to deal with the floods in KZN. Treasury indicated that there was no need for a Special Appropriation Bill for the floods in the province.

Funds have been allocated to the province through various government systems. Modise was speaking to the standing committee on appropriations on Tuesday, 3 May.

She further explained that there be no other funds allocated to deal with the KZN floods over the course of 2022. Over 430 people died in KZN due to the floods and an insane amount of money is needed to fix roads, bridges, houses and damaged businesses and infrastructure. Read the full story here.