Homes, Properties destroyed as heavy rainfall battered South Africa's coastal province

On Sunday, a government official said that hundreds of people were evacuated after heavy rains battered South Africa's coastal province of KwaZulu-Natal, flooding streets and homes and damaging property.  The province is still restoring damaged infrastructure and plans to relocate people displaced after last month's floods, which were among the worst to hit KwaZulu-Natal province in its recorded history. April's floods killed 448 people, left 88 missing, left more than 6,800 homeless and damaged more than 25 billion rand ($1.58 billion) in infrastructure. 

 Warnings have been earlier sent to the province from the South African Weather Service alerting them to more disruptive rain on Saturday in several cities, including Durban, which was affected most by the previous floods. "So far, the greatest impacts are expected along the coast and north-east of KwaZulu-Natal," Sipho Hlomuka, a member of the Executive Council for Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs, told reporters. He said about 250 people had been evacuated to other facilities from care centres in Tongaat and Tehuise in Durban, including retirement villages. Only one family was evacuated due to the collapse of an informal home.  “These heavy rains have led to the flooding of roads, human settlements and property damage. We understand that some areas are inaccessible and have become islands at this point," he said, adding that they have not yet received a full report on the impact of the recent heavy rains. 

Rainfall continued in some parts of KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday, the South African Weather Service said, as the alert level remained at the highest and most severe level of 10. Scientists believe the south-eastern coast of Africa will become more prone to violent storms and flooding as human emissions of heat-trapping gases cause the Indian Ocean to warm. They expect the trend to intensify dramatically in the coming decades.

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