BY OSABUOHIEN VIVIAN ROSE
At least 78 people have died in floods on Thursday as a top official said rescue attempts in the first hours after the disaster had been “paralyzed” by a lack of resources.
Rescue teams spent a third day working through debris and floodwater to find missing people and retrieve bodies after heavy rain caused a river to burst its banks of Tuesday before dawn. The worst floods hit the town of Mthatha and surrounding areas, sweeping away victims along with parts of their houses and cars.
The premier of Eastern Cape province, Oscar Mabuyane, said the floods struck while many people were asleep. The water was 3-4 meters (10-13 feet) high in places when it flowed out of a river and into nearby communities, he added.
“It’s a terrible situation,” Mabuyane told state TV broadcaster SABC. “It happened at the wrong time.”
Mabuyane said local authorities struggled to launch an effective rescue effort as the disaster happened in what he described as a region lacking resources.
He said the largely rural Eastern Cape province in southeastern South Africa, which is home to around 7.2 million people, only has one rescue helicopter. It came to Mthatha from the city of Gqeberha, more than 500 kilometers (310 miles) away. A second helicopter was also brought in to help.
He also said the region does not have any specialist rescue divers or K-9 dog units, meaning they had to be called in from elsewhere to help with the search.
Rescue teams brought bodies out of the water in blue body bags. Witnesses said many people had taken refuge on the tops of buildings or in trees and some were heard calling for help for hours.
The death toll had risen to 78 by Thursday evening, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa said on SABC.
He led a national government delegation to the province and earlier briefed reporters at one of the affected areas.
Provincial government officials said they believed people were still missing but did not give an exact number and rescue efforts would continue on Friday.
The missing had included four high school students who were swept away when their bus was caught up in the floods on its way to school early Tuesday morning. Authorities did not immediately say if those four children were among the latest bodies retrieved.
Six students who were on the bus had already been confirmed dead, along with the driver and another adult. Three other students were rescued after clinging onto trees and calling out for help, according to the provincial government.
Forecasters had warned about the damaging weather last week.
Officials said at least 127 schools and 20 health facilities in the Eastern Cape were damaged, while around 1,000 people were in community shelters after their houses were submerged or washed away. Critical infrastructure including roads and bridges was also badly damaged, Mabuyane said.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said that he would travel to the Eastern Cape on Friday “to see exactly how our people are suffering there and see how we can console the families.” Ramaphosa announced earlier in the week that he had activated the National Disaster Management Center to help local authorities in the Eastern Cape.
