Death toll hits 435 for South African floods

The death toll from severe flooding in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province last week has been revised down to 435 from 448, Police Minister Bheki Cele said on Thursday.

Many of the missing people have not been located yet. Cele also noted that some of the bodies found had either been murder victims or had died or natural causes, not related to the floods.

The floods, which are among the worst to hit KwaZulu-Natal province, have left thousands homeless and caused at least 10 billion rand (US $656 million) of damage to infrastructure.

In Ekuthuleni near Durban, rescue workers dug through rubble for almost 10 hours before pulling out the body of Mxolisi Madziba from under tree trunks. A relative told Reuters TV that the news of his death was very painful but the family are grateful that he can now be buried properly after searching for a week in mortuaries across the city.

At least 40,00 people have been left homeless after the KwaZulu-Natal province received the equivalent of four months of rain in 24 hours, prompting the government to put the country back into a national state of disaster, only a few weeks after suspending a two-year COVID-19 related state of national disaster.

“These are the worst floods we’ve ever seen. In over 24 hours, there was 300 to 400 mm of rain,” Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said at a news conference on Tuesday, crediting climate change as a catalyst for the extreme weather. At the high end of the range, that would equal about 15 inches of rainfall.