South Africa's Durban still recovering from deadly floods
The South African army has deployed 10,000 troops to help find those missing, rebuild roads, bridges and utilities, and distribute emergency aid to families made destitute by the deluge. The government has allocated $67 million in relief aid for affected families.
- World
- AP
- Published Date: 02:03 | 23 April 2022
- Modified Date: 02:03 | 23 April 2022
Grief-stricken South Africans are still searching for family members swept away by last week's floods in which 435 people died and more than 40,000 were made homeless in the coastal city of Durban and the surrounding KwaZulu-Natal province.
The South African army has deployed 10,000 troops to help find those missing, rebuild roads, bridges and utilities, and distribute emergency aid to families made destitute by the deluge. The government has allocated $67 million in relief aid for affected families.
"I am heartbroken," Nkosi told The Associated Press. "What I am hoping for now is just to find her body. I have already accepted that she is no more. All I am holding on to is her school tie which we found in this river stream."
"We still have trauma. Those children used to play with my own child. Now she asks, 'Where is Manelisa? Where is Lulu?' I had to be honest and tell her that they have died, because she can see that they are no longer here," said Mdladla as rescue teams searched for bodies in the pile of flotsam in his backyard.
The largest number of deaths and homes destroyed occurred in Durban's low-lying poor neighborhoods, where families built homes on open, unsafe ground. But middle-class and affluent neighborhoods were also hit when mudslides crushed homes built on hillsides.
Schools, churches and community halls have become shelters for thousands of displaced families and most of those centers lack electricity or clean water.
"The city remains in crisis 10 days after the storm, and it is now primarily a crisis of water and sanitation provision — to hospitals, clinics and communities. Failure to get this right could spell a deepening health crisis, characterized by water-borne disease," said Mani Thandrayen, medical team leader for Doctors Without Borders in Durban. The organization is supporting four shelters with food, water, cookware, blankets, mattresses and other basic items, he said.
Even many homes still standing must be evacuated because they are now unstable and may soon collapse, said South African National Defence Force spokesman Brigadier General Andries Mokoena Mahapa.
Lack of maintenance of Durban's drainage systems worsened the floods in Durban, according to Jeff Smithers, director of the Center for Water Resources Research at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He's called for an improvement in early warning systems to respond to such disasters.
"What has exacerbated the situation is the lack of maintenance," which allowed drainage systems to become blocked by trash, he said. "But even in the perfect scenario we would have had some flooding."
Still shaken by the floods, Sandile Cele, 23, surveyed the scene of wreckage from his family's home on a small hill in Inanda. He used to look through a steel-framed window, but now an entire wall of the dining room is missing, torn away by the surging waters.
The family watched helplessly as the floods shattered windows, tore down walls and ripped off roofs from their two houses.
"We've lost so much. We had recently completed building the second house with the money that my mother received when my father passed away," said Cele. "What we are desperate for is a home, a proper house where we can live and feel safe."
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