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HEAVY RAINS AND flooding have killed at least 306 people in South Africa’s eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, including the city of Durban, and more rainstorms are forecast in the coming days.
The death toll is expected to rise as scores of people, including whole families, are missing, officials said.
The persistent rains have wreaked havoc in the province, destroying homes, collapsing buildings and washing away major roads.
The damage to Durban and the surrounding eThekwini metropolitan area is estimated at $52 million (€48 million), eThekwini mayor Mxolosi Kaunda said.
At least 120 schools have been flooded, causing damage estimated at more than $26 million (€24 million) and forcing officials to temporarily close all schools in the province.
At least 18 students and one teacher from various schools have died in the floods, education minister Angie Motshekga said.
“This is a catastrophe and the damage is unprecedented. What is even more worrying is that more rain is expected in the same areas that are already affected,” Motshekga said in a statement.
Police used stun grenades to disperse residents in the Reservoir Hills areas of Durban who were protesting over what they said was the lack of official assistance, according to South African media reports.
The South African National Defence Force has deployed troops to assist with rescue and mop-up operations.
The floods have knocked out water and electricity to large parts of Durban and the surrounding eThekwini metropolitan area and it will take at least a week to restore those services, according to officials.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is convening an emergency cabinet meeting to declare the floods a national disaster so that funds can be released to help repair the damage.
He visited several areas hit by the floods and mudslides on Wednesday.
Fourteen crocodiles that were swept away from a farm in the Tongaat area north of Durban have been recaptured, according to wildlife officials.
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I hope the brigade that routinely get scared by weather forecasts (“It’s scaremongering!”) aren’t too troubled when reading this.
@Jack Hayes: Remember people said there would be no snow.. and then there was loads of snow and people needed to be rescued in Cork and kerry . Just because the weather might not affect where you live does not mean it doesn’t affect others in the country. That’s how weather works. You are not the centre of the universe. Grow up.
@Jack Hayes: weather is so ‘woke’ ;) (sarcasm)
@Jack Hayes: tell me you’re too thick to understand weather warnings without telling me you don’t understand weather warnings
Looks set to be the strongest storms in the last few years…
https://www.windy.com/-Wind-gusts-gust?ukv,gust,2025012409,52.424,-7.549,6
@David Jordan: That does look pretty bad.
@David Jordan: that’s a drama queen of a weather app, the last snow event it showed nearly 3 feet of snow for the west and more for the south two days before it was supposed to happen, there was just a dusting in the west a lot more in the south but not 3 feet. I just listen to the weather report on local radio It’s more accurate overall and it was in the last weather event.
@brendan C5: and I forgot to mention on the day itself it was showing nearly similar measurements.
@brendan C5: Strange, I use the app and never saw it predicting 3 feet of snow. I find it a decent app if you know what you’re doing and realise that no weather forecast is 100% accurate as it is impossible to predict the future.
@Diarmuid Hunt: well proper meteorology can predict weather measurements a few hours before the event with pinpoint accuracy, That app cannot it inflates everything, it’s a point and click zoom in zoom out app nothing complex about it. The 3 apps that are supported by met eireann,British met service and Norwegian met service are probably the best. But met eireann reports on local radio is the best.
@brendan C5: Point and click, zoom in, zoom out? That’s all you got from it? It is much more useful than that if you look at different settings and use it properly rather than just look at the wind in a given location at a given time.
@Diarmuid Hunt: Windy also has the ability to switch between weather models and sometimes the forecast can vary quite a bit between models. I have been using it for years now and I see it now provides 10 different weather forecast models. I think the forecasters do a good job overall and I like the weather warnings as they cause me to double check if I am affected. I do not subscribe to the people who think we have too many.
@Diarmuid Hunt: yeah, I saw 40cm of snow over a two day period on it for north Kerry/limerick/ clare on it…… It’s very accurate for winds I find
@Luke Littler: Not my job… I just enjoy watching the weather forecasts
@David Jordan: It’s all popping off apparently!… massive hurricane level winds some 500kms off coast, not tracking over us but not that far! Insane to think that it’s -2 and snowing in New Orleans rn too.
It will be just wet and windy like any winter storm on the day.
@Brian k.: You’re pointing out that a storm will be wet and windy? Nothing gets past you, eh?
@Brian k.: but better to know in advance, no? Which is why we’ve always had weather forecasts of 1 kind or another since the dawn of humanity.
Met Eireann’s website and app are fine. if you know how to use them. The Radar particularly handy when working outdoors with showers due. I could work it so we had breaks when the weather was just about to turn.
The 3 day forecast is usually fairly accurate but things do change quickly at times. Always remember it is a FORECAST not a promise!
Lovely picture, what’s winf thou??
@Sea Spirit: That’s the sound the wind makes… obviously… :-D
@Ich: Hahaha very good.
@Sea Spirit: an older but still desirable wins
There’s an even bigger one coming in after it Sunday morning which they haven’t reported on yet according to windy.com
@Dixie: fourth last paragraph in this article.
“Met Éireann adds that the weather is expected to remain very unsettled at the weekend, with strong winds and the potential for further heavy rainfall.”
I an no Storm
I blame the haarp facility for this one
I just looked at the Met Eireann website and it says, fog, rain and strong gusts of winds. With a yellow alert for parts of the country.
Nothing wrong or bad or scaremongering about it!
@Gary Kearney: The unknown is always a little intimidating for some, for others a super interesting connection to being on a rock spinning around a ball of fire.
Quick buy all the bread milk and toilet rolls. There is a storm coming!!!!!!!!
That bike ride looks like lot of fun fooking hell…..
It’ll be a doddle but beware storm Bilbo Baggins!
have your say