DURBAN, April 14 (Reuters) – Residents of South Africa’s coastal KwaZulu-Natal province picked up the pieces on Thursday after one of the worst floods in recent history left more than 300 dead, hundreds others displaced and homeless.

The province was declared a disaster area on Wednesday after heavy rains over the weekend flooded homes, washed away roads and bridges and disrupted shipping at one of Africa’s busiest ports, with containers shipping carried off and looted in some areas. Read more

“It’s bad, it’s bad. We don’t have anything. I don’t even have a bed,” Somi Malizole, a resident of the informal settlement of Isiphingo, told Reuters as he inspected his hut. corrugated iron whose contents had been washed away. .

Akhona Mfencane, another resident of Isiphingo, who was seeking shelter in a community center, said she fled her home after the flood and was left with nothing.

As of Thursday, Mfencane was still awaiting government assistance.

“The place is still flooded, but this time it was worse, we’ve never seen it like this before,” Mfencane said.

On Thursday, residents in some areas rushed to get drinking water from broken pipes and water tanks after municipal services, including electricity, were hit.

“We don’t have water, we don’t have electricity. It has been difficult,” said Thabisile Mathumbu, adding that communities were not given advance warning of the heavy rains. “We should have been warned.

KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala told eNCA television that infrastructure damage assessments were still ongoing. But the province’s education department said 262 schools were damaged, with a preliminary estimate of the cost at more than 395 million rand ($27 million).

“PART OF CLIMATE CHANGE”

Africa’s southeast coast is at the frontline of maritime weather systems that scientists say are getting worse due to global warming. They expect the situation to get worse in the coming decades.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, who visited the province on Wednesday, described the disaster as “a catastrophe of enormous proportions”, adding that it was “obviously part of climate change”.

“We can no longer postpone what we need to do, what actions we need to take to deal with climate change. Our disaster management capacity needs to be at a higher level,” Ramaphosa told a crowd in Ntuzuma township in Durban, without giving further details.

The floods hit as the province recovered from days of arson and looting last year in which more than 300 people died. While unrest has occurred in several parts of the country, KwaZulu-Natal has been hardest hit with several businesses disrupted.

Diversified real estate group Fortress REIT (FFBJ.J) said on Wednesday that four of its logistics and industrial properties were affected, but there was no significant structural damage.

Retailer Truworths (TRUJ.J) said on Tuesday that 37 of its stores were closed but “things were more or less back to normal in our stores and at our manufacturers” the following day.

Mobile network operator MTN (MTNJ.J) said on Wednesday it was able to restore more than 278 sites, including towers, in Umlazi and Amanzimtoti. But the intermittent rain made recovery difficult and also closed additional sites, he added.

Logistics and freight operator Transnet, pulp and paper maker Sappi (SAPJ.J) and discount clothing retailer Pepkor (PPHJ.J) also saw their operations disrupted.

($1 = R14.7225)

Additional reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Nqobile Dludla in Johannesburg, writing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by James Macharia, Gareth Jones and Mike Harrison

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