Heavy rains and wind destroy homes on KZN's south coast

Heavy rains and strong winds have devastated nearly 30 homes in the Umdoni municipality on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast.

The KwaZulu-Natal Co-operative Government and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) department said Disaster Management teams had responded to areas affected by torrential rains at the weekend.

Hardest hit was the Umdoni local municipality in the Ugu district where nearly 30 homes were destroyed by heavy rains and strong winds which ripped of the roofs off homes.

“Every season our disaster management teams are ready to respond wherever they are needed. Following these heavy rains we are grateful in that there are no fatalities‚” said KZN MEC for Cogta Nomusa Dube-Ncube.

“We are calling on all our citizens to be cautious at all times. We will continue to monitor every corner of our province because we are determined to minimise incidents that may result in the loss of life and damage to property.”

The department said heavy rains forecast for catchment areas in the next six weeks were a welcome relief in the drought-ravaged province. Most dams in the province are below 50% and water restrictions have been imposed by various municipalities.

“We are praying that the heavens open mainly in our catchment areas. Our worry is that we are now approaching the winter season and if it does not rain between February and March‚ we shall have a serious crisis. Our people should save water religiously because we are nowhere near being out of the woods yet despite the rains that we are seeing‚” said Dube Ncube.

The rains are expected to subside on Tuesday.

The department urged motorists to drive cautiously and exercise care while crossing submerged bridges.