Flooding, caused by several days of heavy rain on the east coast of South Africa, has killed around 60 people.

Forty-five people were killed in the metropolis of Durban, the region's largest city, and "at least 14 people lost their lives" in the neighboring district of iLembe, provincial authorities said in a statement on Wednesday (April 13th). .

President Cyril Ramaphosa regretted "a tragic record" and must go there on Wednesday. 

All day Tuesday, rescue operations continued, particularly in Durban, one of the main African ports open to the Indian Ocean.

The army was mobilized to provide air support during the evacuations.

More than 2,000 homes were damaged along with some 4,000 informal dwellings, according to the provincial government.

"It's a nightmare, lots of mudslides, casualties, collapsed buildings," rescue team member Garrith Jamieson told AFP.

Many houses were destroyed in floods on the east coast of South Africa on April 12, 2022. © Rajesh Jantilal, AFP

Many roads cut

Many roads were cut, while container stocks fell like dominoes on one of the region's main roads. 

Above a roadway submerged in brown water, direction signs and red lights seem to float in the middle of nowhere.

Abandoned cars have water up to the windows.

Local NGO Gift of the Givers described "highways turning into rivers" and people trapped under collapsed walls.

Stocks of containers fell like dominoes on one of the main roads in the Durban region of South Africa due to heavy rains on April 12, 2022. © Phill Magakoe, AFP

Rail connections have also been suspended due to landslides and rubble on the tracks. 

On the popular beaches of Durban, heaps of debris, branches, plastic bottles, have piled up.

The tank of a tank truck was driven to the seaside, noted an AFP photographer.

Danish shipping giant Maersk has announced the suspension of its activities in the port. 

On the popular beaches of Durban, South Africa, heaps of debris, branches, plastic bottles, piled up due to heavy rains, April 12, 2022. © Rajesh Jantilal, AFP

The heavy rains also led to power cuts and disrupted water supplies, said the town's mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda.

The bad weather also severely affected poor neighborhoods in the suburbs of Durban made up of informal housing built on flood-prone areas.

“The floods are due to poor planning and the poor and vulnerable are the most affected,” said KZN University urban planning expert Hope Magidimisha-Chipungu.

The city of Durban has already seen massive destruction during a wave of rioting and looting in July, the worst violence in the country since the end of apartheid, originally sparked by the incarceration of the former President Jacob Zuma. 

With AFP

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