South Africa floods declared national disaster

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday declared a national state of disaster as a result of the deadly floods on the east coast, warning that rebuilding even basic services will take time.

“This is a humanitarian disaster that calls for a massive and urgent relief effort,” he said in a televised address. “The lives, health and well-being of thousands of people are still at risk.”

“The Port of Durban — which is one of the largest and busiest shipping terminals on the continent and which is vital to our country’s economy — has been severely affected,” he said.

At least 443 people have died, with 48 still missing, around the east coast city of Durban, the president said.

Some badly damaged areas remain inaccessible, he added, including 16 schools that are completely cut off.

The state of disaster, similar to measures imposed to fight the Covid pandemic, unlocks additional resources to help rebuild.

To ease concerns around corruption that plagued COVID efforts, Ramaphosa said the government would create a special oversight body that will include the auditor-general, business and religious groups, as well as professional associations of engineers and accountants.

Earlier Monday, the military said 10,000 troops were deployed to help restore power and water and search for the missing.

But hopes for finding the missing were fading.

Clyde Naicker said his brother Ronald had been missing for a week since he disappeared while trying to get to his job as a hospital radiographer.

“Apparently from what we heard, his vehicle got flooded and then he tried to go to safety,” Naicker said. The family has been searching every day, but police only joined their effort on Monday.

For the hundreds of bodies that have been found, damaged roads and waterlogged cemeteries made burials difficult.

“There are so many deceased, and the mortuaries can’t keep up because they have been so inundated,” said Pieter van der Westhuizen, general manager for funeral services at the Avbob insurance company.

“So it is taking a little longer to get the deceased out for burial.”

KZN Funeral Directors Association representative Nasan Chetty said the continuous rain had made it “very difficult to do burials”.

“If we dig the graves and then come back to do the burial a few hours later it is water-logged,” he told AFP.