KZN floods leave at least 23 dead
The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in KwaZulu-Natal has confirmed that the death toll from the flooding in the province has risen to at least 23.
The department’s Nomsa Dube-Ncube says another 32 people have been admitted to various hospitals around the province for treatment.
On Thursday last week, 13 people died when a wall collapsed at the Pentecostal Holiness Chruch in Empangeni.
The death toll was subsequently revised to 18.
"We also have five more deceased in the same area of Empangeni which made about 18 fatalities in that area of Empangeni,” says Dube-Ncube.
"Which means that there is going to be quite a huge load of work to be done in terms of identification of the bodies, 18 plus the normal work the mortuary would do.”
In the southern suburb of Malvern in Durban, four people were killed after their home collapsed while they were sleeping on Tuesday.
Dube-Ncube says emergency services in the province have responded to some 2 000 calls.
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Families members who lost loved ones at the Pentecostal Holiness Church will identify the victims’ bodies on Tuesday.
The department has also requested the health department in the province to assist with the post-mortems to allow the families to start making funeral arrangements.