KwaZulu-Natal South Coast: Flash floods cause significant damage
Margate and other areas in the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal are without electricity as flash floods caused significant damage this weekend.
Flash floods that lashed the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast especially in Margate caused significant damage to infrastructure and property.
The adverse weather conditions left several areas without electricity, leading to prolonged outages.
TORRENTIAL RAINS CAUSE DAMAGE IN KWAZULU-NATAL SOUTH COAST
The significant damage in Margate came after the South African Weather Services (SAWS) the heavy downpours may result in some areas receiving rainfall accumulation of more than 200mm over 24 hours.
The weather service had warned that the heavy rain might lead to localised impact, such as flooding of settlements and roads, damage to houses, and displacement of communities over the extreme south-eastern of the province on Monday.
Areas likely affected include eThekwini Metro, Umdoni, Umzumbe, and Ray Nkonyeni Local Municipalities.
Following the torrential rains, residents in the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal took to social media to share images and videos of the damage to their properties, roads, and other infrastructure.
ESKOM TECHNICIANS WORKING TO RESTORE POWER
Meanwhile, Eskom also said parts of the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast were severely affected by storms, leading to extensive power outages.
The power utility said technicians have started working to restore power in some areas; however, some are still inaccessible.
“There is no ETR. Customers are urged to treat all installations as live,” the power utility said.
DISASTER MANAGEMENT TEAMS ON HIGH ALERT
The Department of Cooperative Governance and Tradition Affairs (Cogta) in KwaZulu-Natal said its teams are conducting assessments and will provide updates in due course.
KZN Cogta spokesperson Siboniso Mngadi said disaster teams in all the municipalities had been activated.
“We advise communities to seek shelter in safe places. Public facilities, such as community halls, are open as safe havens for those needing shelter. Our teams may have to evacuate people should they foresee a high risk of danger due to inclement weather,” he said.