BY: MASHUDU MAGADU
Four people have died, while extensive damage has been caused to roads, electricity and water infrastructure after a severe thunderstorm caused flooding in the Margate area on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast on Sunday night.
Disaster management teams are busy clearing washed-away trees from roads, where the flooding has also caused sinkholes. “ We trying our best to drain the water in order to avoid more accidents. We advice our drives to avoid using the roads which are flooded.” Said Bheki Mkhize, member of Disaster management team.
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) government authorities called on motorists to exercise vigilance as inclement weather lashed the province on Sunday.
According to Kwanele Ncalane, the spokesperson for the KZN transport department, the deceased were killed when a Toyota Tazz collided with a Toyota Fortuner on the R66 at Mayiwane intersection in uLundi.
“The vehicles collided head-on, and the cause of the accident is still a subject of an investigation,” he said.
The South African Weather Service has issued a level 5 warning that more severe thunderstorms can be expected along coastal areas up to Durban until midnight tonight.
Ray Nkonyeni Municipality spokesperson, Simon April, says search and rescue missions are under way. “Right now, we have just retrieved three bodies. It is that of a male, female and a child. We believe that they were trying to cross a low-lying bridge but their vehicle was washed away. They were washed away, and we found their bodies near a river along the N2 highway. We have just received the news that at Ward 29, one person died after being struck by lightning.” He added that two people were injured and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
