The floods in South Africa left at least 448 dead and millions of dollars in damage

After a week of flooding that caused at least 448 deaths, South Africa began on Tuesday to assess the serious damage that has devastated the Durban region on the east coast.

Torrential rains and landslides caused chaos in the port city of 3.9 million inhabitants, due to shattered roads, collapsed bridges and open channels.

“These floods are the worst floods we have ever seen,” Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, in charge of disaster management, said at a news conference. “The impact of these floods is far beyond the province,” he added.

A senior local government official reported that five bodies were recovered on Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 448. More than 600 schools were damaged by the floods and 101 were left inaccessible.

“The preliminary (damage) figure is 442 million rands (30 million dollars), and that only relates to infrastructure. Many things are damaged in schools,” said Education Minister Angie Motshekga, after inspecting the damage in some schools in Durban.

President Cyril Ramaphosa declared on Monday the state of national catastrophe that should allow the unlocking of exceptional resources.

“The main challenge is the (supply of) water,” said Health Minister Joe Phaahla, as he leaves a hospital where patients use buckets to wash and pull the chain.

According to local authorities, 80% of the network has been affected. About 4,000 houses were razed and more than 13,500 were damaged.

The tankers try to transport water to the population, but some areas remain inaccessible.

Authorities said they had restored electricity almost everywhere, but the country is plagued by further disruptions, due to the deteriorating infrastructure of the public company Eskom.

Stacks of containers

Some 10,000 soldiers are being deployed to assist in rehabilitation. Air support was strengthened, in particular for the transport of goods, and troops were sent to distribute cisterns and install water purification systems.

Some 270,000 students did not return to school after the long weekend of Easter.

The port of Durban, one of Africa's main maritime terminals and a cornerstone of national economic activity, returned to operation, but between 8,000 and 9,000 containers are currently awaiting unloading.

Damage to the road linking the port with the rest of the country prevented the daily passage of 13,000 trucks of goods.

The authorities anticipate hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. A first estimate for the repair of road infrastructure amounts to about 380 million dollars.

But there are concerns about the possible diversion of aid in a country with a long history of corruption.

“There must be absolute transparency and full disclosure of how these funds are distributed to ensure that they reach the communities where they are intended,” said Karam Singh, of the NGO Corruption Watch.

South Africa, which is facing an unprecedented natural disaster, is generally unaffected by the harsh weather that regularly plagues neighbouring countries, such as Mozambique or Madagascar.

( Por Lyse Comins - AFP)

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