Ten (10) people from one family perished following heavy rains that caused floods and mudslides in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal Province early this week.
The floods and mudslides caused building and bridge collapses and scores of vehicles and people were swept away.
On Wednesday, Nonkululeko Mdlalose, who met President Cyril Ramaphosa when he visited the area, told him 10 of her family members were killed on Monday night. She said:
I think they were all sleeping because the incident happened at around 11 pm.
Mdlalose said it seemed her neighbour’s brick and mortar home had collapsed, creating a mass of brick, mud and water that descended onto their home, sweeping everyone down the hill.
She said only she and her sister survived the tragic incident. They were not at home when the disaster occurred. Mdlalose’s sister said:
We have another sibling who was no longer living at home but was in Maritzburg.
But of all of us who lived at home, full-time with our mom, it is only the two of us who survived.
The Mdlaloses told Ramaphosa that the deceased persons were between the ages of two and 80. They said:
We found our mom and three of her grandchildren [almost immediately] … We then found the others but the last of the grandchildren we only found on Tuesday night.
Our mom was lying alongside our neighbour down by the riverbed.
On Friday, South African authorities revealed that the death toll caused by the floods and severe weather in KwaZulu-Natal had risen to 395.
eThekwini reported 355 deaths, Ugu 6, uMzinyathi 2, King Cetshwayo 4 and Ilembe 28.