PE toll is 5 dead, 14 missing

2006-08-03 23:01

Cindy Preller

Port Elizabeth - Five deaths and 14 missing people - this is why the August 2006 floods in the Nelson Mandela Bay metropole will live on in memory.

After a night of heavy rains, icy weather and storm winds, the metro woke up on Thursday to find death, chaos and destruction on the doorstep.

The search for the 14 missing people in Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage was suspended at nightfall.

Thousands were left homeless after strong winds flattened homes and strong floodwaters left destruction in their path.

Twenty suburbs in the metro area are without electricity and about 30 roads in the city are closed to traffic.

The road between Uitenhage and Port Elizabeth was closed for a while and several bridges were washed away.

Kupido Baron of the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality, said: "We're concentrating on saving people and the infrastructure damage will be ascertained at a later stage. The destruction is too much to take in now."

Helicopters, boats used for rescues

Theo Meyer of the police air wing said an ambulance helicopter was used for rescue work.

He said: "People were perched on roofs of houses, which were structurally so poor they would have been flattened by the wind from rotors if we had tried to get close to pick them up.

"The people were rescued by boats and the helicopter was used to relay information."

A tired Gavin Riddle of the Port Elizabeth branch of the National Sea Rescue Institute said about 25 volunteers had worked through Wednesday night to rescue people from trees and the roofs of cars and homes.

"I didn't get any sleep and things are hectic all over," he said.

- Die Burger