Durban — The latest count by KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, was that there are now 11 people missing following Christmas Eve’s floods as a result of heavy rain.
This was according to MEC Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi who on Wednesday oversaw the disaster relief efforts in Ladysmith where seven people have been confirmed dead.
Sithole-Moloi says that on Tuesday there were ten missing people and “today (Wednesday) we have updated our stats where another missing man was reported by his family.”
She said on December 24 from around 10.30pm to 11.30pm the area was hit by heavy rains and those that were travelling were swept away.
“What is tragic is that in bakkie where there were nine people and almost all of them were from one family, six of them are from one family and we have only recovered three. We are still looking to find those people and ensure their families can bury them.”
Sithole-Moloi was speaking while near the bridge on the N11 just outside Ladysmith where some of the victims were swept away.
She also spoke to relatives of those who were still missing who were camped at the scene in hope that the rescue team would find their loved ones.
Sithole-Moloi said that the department had issued an alert on December 21 saying some districts would see heavy rains adding that municipalities were cautioned.
“The alert cautioned of weather like this from the 21st and throughout the festive season. It was an alert 2 indication of heavy rains in districts uMgungundlovu, uThukela, Amajuba, uMzinyathi, Ilembe and King Cetshwayo. All the systems were put in place in district and local disaster centres as well provincial and national,” she said.
On Tuesday Cogta’s Disaster Management Teams, working with the Search and Rescue Teams led by the SAPS K9 Unit and IPSS Medical Rescue, discovered the body of an 8-year-old boy who drowned in the Masende River, KwaSithebe, Mandeni on Christmas Day.
The heavy rains on Christmas Eve resulted in the Bell’s Spuit, which runs under the Mbonontathu bridge, bursting its banks, causing water to overflow onto the N11 near the Limit Hill in Ladysmith.
According to IPSS Medical Rescue, Tuesday’s search along the Bell's Spruit, with two SAPS K9s by covered almost 4km of the river, with efforts hampered by debris, including cars, trees, and parts of buildings that were swept away.
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