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DURBAN. – The eThekweni Municipality announced yesterday the estimated impact of the devastating floods in KwaZulu-Natal stands at R757 million while the death toll has risen to 341.

“The floods we experienced in the past few days are far worse than those we have seen in recent years, and the damage to infrastructure has been extensive.

“Our teams are hard at work to resume services; however, it may take a while to fully restore all services because of the extent of the damage to access roads,” Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said.

He added that President Cyril Ramaphosa was expected to convene Cabinet to resolve the declaration of the state of disaster for the province to start receiving relief funds.

On his visit to the affected communities on Wednesday, Mr Ramaphosa said the floods had a direct connection with the climate emergency. “This disaster is part of climate change… It is here, and our disaster management capability needs to be at a higher level.”

Kaunda said R28 million in damage had been caused to depots and landfill sites.

“For this reason, we urge residents to follow our updates about the resumption of waste collection,” he added.

The floods wreaked havoc across the province, affecting more than 40 000 lives and leaving many homeless.

The UN in South Africa said it was saddened by the increasing death toll and expressed condolences to the victims’ families

“The UN in South Africa stands ready to extend our support to the government’s response and to the communities affected, many of whom experienced the same devastation in 2019.

“Families residing on the embankments of rivers in informal settlements, and already vulnerable, are seeing their homes being washed away, walls and roofs collapsing and losing family members,” the head of the UN in South Africa, Ayodele Odusola, said.

Kaunda said the municipality had established 17 shelters accommodating 2 138 displaced people at community halls where they were receiving hot meals, blankets, and mattresses in a clean environment.

He added the City could not accept requests for burials until the situation returned to normal.

“This is due to the ground being saturated as a result of heavy rains. We are monitoring the situation in all our gravesites to ensure that we are able to conduct burials soon.

“Since Tuesday, our councillors and officials are working closely with families of the deceased to ensure that burial assistance is provided.”

Kaunda said power had been restored to most of the city, with only three substations still off due to extensive damage. It included the Wentworth, Toyota and Prospecton stations.

He added teams were also working hard to restore power in areas around Inanda Dam.

“Some of the delays in restoring power in these areas have been caused by damage to road infrastructure. Technicians are working in three shifts to ensure that power is restored as soon as possible.

“In addition, more contractors have been brought on board to support the repair effort. We are planning to clear all outstanding faults today [Thursday].” – News24.com