https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / News / South African News RSS ← Back
Building|Cleaning|Defence|Repairs|Road|SECURITY|Service|Services|Infrastructure|Operations
Building|Cleaning|Defence|Repairs|Road|SECURITY|Service|Services|Infrastructure|Operations
building|cleaning|defence|repairs|road|security|service|services|infrastructure|operations
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Article Enquiry

KZN floods: In numbers - 443 dead, 63 missing, more than 13 000 households affected


Close

Embed Video

KZN floods: In numbers - 443 dead, 63 missing, more than 13 000 households affected

Image of KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala
KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala

18th April 2022

By: News24Wire

SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

As the flooding in KwaZulu-Natal enters its sixth day, the death toll has risen to 443, with 63 people still missing and more than 13 000 households affected.

Briefing the media on Sunday, KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala said the floods were among the worst catastrophes to befall the province.

Advertisement

"The loss of life, destruction of homes, the damage to the physical infrastructure, the demolition of public buildings, and the consequent damage to services combined to make this natural disaster one of the worst ever in recorded history of our province," Zikalala said.

"We suspect the human toll and damage surpasses the 1987 floods, which engulfed this part of the world."

Advertisement

Rescue operations Search and rescue missions continued on Sunday as emergency services received 38 call-outs - and, at the scenes attended, six more bodies were recovered.

To assist with operations, the South African Police Service deployed four pilots and 48 crews, and the South African National Defence Force four pilots and 12 crews.

"We have rescue dogs, four jet skis, and a combined crew of 67 experts in search and rescue missions," Zikalala said.

Tragically, the premier revealed that one search and rescue team member died in hospital following a search and rescue mission at Henley Dam.

"He experienced difficulty breathing and was airlifted to the Mediclinic Hospital - but, unfortunately, passed away. May his soul rest in peace."

To date, 185 rescue operations have been executed.

Damage done While the province is still assessing the total damage, Zikalala gave the estimated cost for road infrastructure damage - R5.6 billion.

The premier also gave information about households affected by the flooding.

He said 13 556 had been affected, with 8 329 houses partially damaged and 3 937 homes completely destroyed.

Zikalala said the Department of Human Settlements had made R1 billion available to assist.

"With effect from Tuesday, the MEC for Human Settlements will lead the programme to identify land for the temporary relocation of people, facilitate provision of temporary shelter, and also work on long-term interventions.

"Moving forward, the case of persons who built houses along the river banks demands priority attention.

"A number of houses along these river banks were affected. Many still remain precariously perched on the edge of the river. In reality, no building should ever have been allowed to be erected at such a location."

Meanwhile, the premier said the SA Social Security Agency had made funding to the tune of R1900x2 per household for burial support.

"This excludes the funding to be provided to cover funeral costs by the province, municipalities and private donors." Schools affected Zikalala said 551 schools were affected by the floods and around 98 schools would need mobile classrooms when reopening.

Other schools would require cleaning and minor repairs.

"The severe cases will be dealt with through the implementing agent intervention. The department will unveil plans to ensure that schooling returns to normal when schools reopen, and the relevant contingency measures."

We want to hear your views on the news. Subscribe to News24 to be part of the conversation in the comments section of this article.

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options

Email Registration Success

Thank you, you have successfully subscribed to one or more of Creamer Media’s email newsletters. You should start receiving the email newsletters in due course.

Our email newsletters may land in your junk or spam folder. To prevent this, kindly add newsletters@creamermedia.co.za to your address book or safe sender list. If you experience any issues with the receipt of our email newsletters, please email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za