Floods in Durban leave 59 dead, shattered homes

DURBAN • Residents yesterday started sifting through the remains of shattered homes after floods and landslips stoked by record rainfall devastated the South African city of Durban city and surrounding area, killing at least 59 and leaving many missing.

Storms struck the south-eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal as Durban, its main city, was still struggling to recover from deadly riots last July which claimed more than 350 lives.

A lull in the rain saw residents begin clearing debris from roads and filling up holes left by raging water to allow cars to pass, an Agence France-Presse correspondent said.

Schools not affected by the floods reopened yesterday but few students turned up. A teacher at a primary school in Durban's Inanda suburb said only two of 48 pupils reported for classes.

Parts of the province received more than 300mm of rain on Monday, the heaviest one-day downpour in over 60 years, the South African Weather Service said.

"Some areas in KwaZulu-Natal have received more than double the maximum rainfall recorded during previous record rainfalls," the agency's spokeswoman, Ms Hannelee Doubell, told AFP.

President Cyril Ramaphosa was visiting Durban yesterday where he was expected to declare a state of emergency.

The provincial government said the disaster "wreaked untold havoc and unleashed massive damage to lives and infrastructure."

"This is a tragic toll of the force of nature and this situation calls for an effective response by government," Mr Ramaphosa said late on Tuesday.

Days of driving rain flooded several areas, tore houses apart and ravaged infrastructure across the city, while landslides forced train services to be suspended across the province.

The rain flooded highways to such depths that only the tops of traffic lights were visible.

Torrents tore several bridges apart, submerged cars and collapsed houses. A fuel tanker floated at sea after being swept off the road.

Several stacked shipping containers fell like dominoes and lay strewn round a yard, while some spilled onto a main road in the city, one of southern Africa's largest gateways to the sea.

More than 2,000 houses and 4,000 "informal" homes, or shacks, were damaged.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE