At least six people died and 10 were missing after a flood on Christmas Eve in KwaZulu-Natal. The SA Weather Service has issued a Level 2 warning until Wednesday in five of the country’s nine provinces.
On Christmas Day, the South African Weather Service (Saws) issued a Level 2 warning for severe thunderstorms in five provinces until Wednesday, 27 December.
The evening before, six people were killed following a destructive flash flood at Bell’s Spruit and Kliprivier in Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal. On Tuesday, 10 people from the area were still missing.
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube said: “It is with profound sadness and a heavy heart that I extend my deepest condolences and sympathies to the families of victims who lost their lives due to the heavy rains on Christmas Eve that resulted in the Bell’s Spruit, which runs under the Mbonontathu Bridge, bursting its banks, causing water to overflow on to the N11 road near the Limit Hill robots in Ladysmith.”
The brave men and women of the Search and Rescue 🛟 teams on the ground in Ladysmith following the tragic floods that killed 6 people while 10 others are missing. pic.twitter.com/odmhq6abt1— KZN Provincial Gov (@kzngov) December 26, 2023
Providing more details in a subsequent statement, the KZN department of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs said that the flash flood caused caused severe damage to infrastructure, and several vehicles were swept away. “Additionally, one…