THE death toll of people who have died during the flash floods in KZN has risen to seven.
Seven people have died while 11 are still missing.
The death toll increased after an eight-year-old boy drowned in the Masende River in KwaSithebe, Mandeni in northern KZN.
The Mandeni disaster management teams received a late call on Christmas Day, 25 December to respond to a drowning incident involving two people, a 37-year-old man who was with a boy (8).
During the search and rescue operation, the young boy's body was recovered by the rescue teams on Tuesday, 26 December while the adult man is still missing. Due to the persistent rainfall in the Mandeni area, the search and rescue operation had to be temporarily suspended and continued on Wednesday, 27 December.
The KZN Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs spokesman, Siboniso Mngadi, said the incident of the drowned boy has raised the death toll to seven, with 11 people still unaccounted for. This includes those affected by flooding in Ladysmith. He said the search is ongoing in Ladysmith.
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Meanwhile, the KZN MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi, extended her deepest condolences to all the families who have lost their loved ones due to the adverse weather conditions. Sithole-Moloi has also convened an urgent joint operation cluster meeting involving all municipalities as part of their disaster response efforts. These teams will assess affected areas and provide assistance to those in need.
"As rain continues to fall in various parts of our province, we urge people to exercise caution, especially those travelling on the roads. We strongly advise residents not to attempt to cross rivers where the water level is above the knee. The South African Weather Service has forecast more normal rainfall throughout the summer. This requires us to be disaster wise and adhere to the disaster alerts to reduce risk," she said.
She said they have co-ordinated with other government departments to assist families in distress.
"Our teams are on the ground offering relief, counselling will be provided to affected families. We are actively working on post-mortems to assist families,” she said.
