Two months after severe flooding in South Africa’s third-largest city, Durban, killed more than 400 people, dozens of people are still missing. The government announced this on Sunday.
“The floods have affected 85,280 people and killed 461 people. In total, 87 people are still missing,” Sihle Zikalala, the prime minister of the southeastern province of KwaZulu-Natal, said at a news conference.
The torrential rains in April, attributed to extreme weather events caused by climate change, surprised the country, which has traditionally been spared the storms that regularly hit neighboring countries such as Mozambique.
Parts of the province received more than 300mm of rain in 24 hours, equivalent to about a third of the annual rainfall usually recorded in Durban, a major port city of more than 3.9 million inhabitants.
The deluge caused the worst mudslides to ever hit the country, washing away people, bridges, roads and buildings.
“The KwaZulu-Natal floods have rightly been described as the most devastating floods in our history to date,” said Zikalala, adding that more than 27,000 homes were damaged, including 8,584 that were completely destroyed.
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