More rain is expected over the flood-ravaged coastline of KwaZulu-Natal from Friday (15 April) to Wednesday (20 April).
This after extensive damage was already reported to infrastructure, such as roads and buildings, in the region in the week of 11 April, according to Johan van den Berg, independent agricultural meteorologist.
During the past few days, some areas along the coast, including Margate and some parts of Durban, received in excess of 300mm of rain in a 24-hour period. He ascribed the dramatic rainfall to the current La Niña weather system over the area.
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Meanwhile, the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government announced that the city of eThekwini and surrounding areas had been declared a disaster area, which would result in funding being made available for further rescue operations.
So far, at least 59 people had reportedly lost their lives in the disaster, while many were still missing.
“Incidences such as these are not unknown in the province. Similar disasters happened in April 1989, April 1975 and March 1976. There is currently an interesting correlation between local weather patterns and weather patterns in Australia, where serious warnings of extreme rainstorms and the possibility of evacuations were issued earlier in the week.
“Inhabitants of the areas affected by the rain in KwaZulu-Natal will be well advised to stay off the roads and to, if need be, evacuate timeously,” he said.
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As far as agriculture was concerned, Van den Berg said it was too soon to determine the full extent of the damage, but that the destruction of roads between markets and farms was a major impediment.
He added that many buildings had been erected on steep slopes, and said water was prevented from being absorbed into the soil in heavily built-up areas, which meant that an excess of rain led to pooling and eventual flooding.
PJ Hassard, president of the KwaZulu-Natal Agricultural Union, told Farmer’s Weekly that an assessment of the damage to farmland was still underway, and that he was thus unable to comment on the matter.
“[…] many of our members are cut off from the outside world because of power outages and damaged telephone connections. However, there are indications of considerable damage in the coastal areas,” he said.