Toddler swept away by storm: 'Her lunch wasn't touched'

When Lindokuhle Kweyama found the lunch she had packed for her 19-month-old daughter in the ruins of the informal créche where she had left her earlier that day, she knew her baby was gone.

Her daughter Okuhle - who had come to live with her mother in Umlazi township, near Durban, just last month - was swept away when a river broke its banks on Tuesday morning after a massive storm hit the area.

"When I got to the room where my child was usually kept I realised something was wrong because they were avoiding eye contact with me," Kweyama said.

"I was called to another room and I just knew there was a problem.her lunch had not been touched," she said, as the tears poured down her cheeks.

The storm battered the coast of KwaZulu-Natal for more than 12 hours on Tuesday leaving a swathe of destruction. According to police, the death toll from the storm is 11 but many more are still missing.

It stalled trains and left motorists stranded on flooded highways. Hundreds of households were left without electricity.

Among the victims was little Okuhle, who was swept along by the surging rapids after she was taken from the créche by a pupil who had tried to save her from rising water in the créche. He carried her outside and went back to help other children but the floodwaters rose higher and she was swept away.

Kweyama said her child so loved spending time with her that last month she brought her to stay with her in Umlazi. She had previously been living with an aunt.

"My child had just started living here. It hasn't even been a month. My child is the only one who is gone.

"To be honest I don't know if she is alive or not. If they don't find her I will never know what happened," Kweyama said.

Police search and rescue teams and other emergency service personnel continue to search for those who went missing during the storm.