At least 340 people died in floods in South Africa

Rains this thursday truce However, the rains are expected to return from this Friday, as emergency teams work against the clock to provide shelter to thousands of affected people, search for dozens of missing persons and prevent further damage to affected infrastructures. .and houses.

“Our thoughts are with the people of KwaZulu-Natal, who have been affected by the severe flooding that has claimed many lives and destroyed their homes, businesses and public infrastructure,” the country’s president said in a statement today. Cyril Ramaphosatoured the affected areas yesterday with local authorities.

During this visit, the president described the situation as follows:daunting disaster‘ and directly linked it to climate change.

Therefore, the South African Government catastrophe It’s in KwaZulu-Natal, which will allow the region to access special government resources to deal with the damage.

This final balance The number of deaths confirmed at a virtual press conference by the provincial head of government this afternoon, Sihle Zikalala, amount of 340; however, it was not excluded that the number would increase as many people were still missing.

“The timing and severity of the flood makes it clear that we live in times of disaster. ecological imbalance, climate change and environmental degradation,” he said, after conceding that these were times of “unprecedented disaster” for the region.

Zikalala also stated that the amount of material damage has not been determined yet. Millionaires lose.

Only in the municipality where the city is located Durban (officially called eThekwiniDamage is estimated at 757 million rand (approximately 50 million euros), according to calculations released today by the mayor of South Africa’s third largest city and the most important city in KwaZulu-Natal, Mxolisi Kaunda.

Prepared to host thousands of visitors for Easter celebrations, citizens in many parts of the province were left without electricity and water, and many roads remained. impassable.

Local officials also estimate that thousands have been abandoned. homeless and schools will remain closed in the affected areas until next week.

Particularly hit areas have been informal settlements Around Durban, many slums were completely washed away by torrential waters and landslides.

in suburbs such as reservoir Hills, Neighbors, who lost everything in these floods and claimed to have been ignored by the authorities, held protest demonstrations today that the police had to disperse.

Durban port – the most important sea ​​transport Cargo from the entire African continent – had to suspend operations this Wednesday, and railroads in the region also suffered significant damage.

Large factories, such as the automobile company’s factory toyota In Durban it was also completely submerged and had to cease its activities.

Police units also had to be deployed to deal with looting attempts in parts of the state, and the Army soldiers on the ground to support recovery efforts.

After this natural disaster, various leaders of the African continent expressed their solidarity with South Africa and sent the ‘African continent’ message. condolence.

“My thoughts are with Cyril Ramaphosa and his South African comrades who have been affected by heavy rain and flooding for the past few days. Ethiopia stands in solidarity at this difficult time,” the Ethiopian Prime Minister said in a statement today. said. Abi Ahmedon his Twitter account.

KwaZulu-Natal is experiencing this type of increase climate events in recent years.

The most serious of recent times occurred in 2019. torrential rains and the flood left about 80 dead at this time of year.

In addition, KwaZulu-Natal is dealing with the desolation caused by the serious disturbances that South Africa experienced in July 2021, and more intensely in this very state. only registered there 275 out of 354 dead remnants of these events.