'Extraordinary turning ordinary'

2009-01-06 21:41

Durban - KwaZulu-Natal has been put on a state of alert as more "ferocious storms" are expected as early as the coming weekend, the province's executive committee said on Tuesday.

This comes just days after a thunderstorm pounded various parts of the province leaving a "trail of destruction in its path", Premier Sbu Ndebele said at a media briefing in Pietermaritzburg.

Trees were uprooted, roofs caved in, walls and houses collapsed, cars washed away, and in some areas water mains had burst.

Among the victims were a family of four struck dead by lightning inside their Ndwedwe home.

Local government spokesperson Lennox Mabaso on Monday night said the death toll stood at 18. The committee confirmed that 15 people had died but stressed that other reported deaths were presently being verified.

He urged residents to now prepare for the possibility of more storms.

He said that even though people were being warned, it was difficult to tell them what to do in the case of such a disaster.

"Even if the warning is two hours ahead, what do they do and where do they go... We now have to come up with ways to deal with this extraordinary situation which seems to be becoming ordinary."

Awareness campaign

The premier sat side-by-side with members of the provincial executive committee including finance MEC Zweli Mkhize, social development MEC Meshack Radebe, education MEC Ina Cronje and agriculture and environmental affairs MEC Mtolephi Mthimkhulu, as he addressed the media.

He said the weather bureau was working on a massive awareness campaign to alert people.

Ndebele said a total of 12 736 people were affected by the freak storm and the estimated cost of damage was R108m.

"The province is still picking up the pieces and tallying the costs."

"We are also busy assessing the magnitude of the damage to decide what additional measures government will need to take on in order to bring the lives of the affected communities back to normality," Ndebele said.

"We must understand that this is quite a lot of devastation on top of the poverty that already exists."

Large parts of the uMgungundlovu municipality, the eThekwini municipality, the iLembe municipality, the Sisonke municipality and the uMzinyathi municipality were hit by the storm.

Schools damaged

MEC Cronje said it was unclear how many schools had been damaged as educators and pupils were on holiday.

Once they returned to school on January 21 and there was feedback, her department would be able to estimate the damages to schools in the province.

"But contingency plans would be put in place to deal with it because teaching and learning must start on the first day."

The premier said teams had been working around the clock to bring relief, with a joint operations centre established in each of the affected areas.

Over the past few months, disasters like veldfires and storms in KwaZulu-Natal had put "a strain" on government resources but they were trying to assist families as best they could.

Ndebele was unable to put a figure to the total amount of damage caused by the disasters experienced in the province over the past few months.

"We have assisted families to bury loved ones, we have provided medical care, and we are also helping to reconstruct houses and repair infrastructure."

Through the disaster, he said, people had lent helping hands to strangers and it had reaffirmed his belief "in the resilience of the human spirit".

- SAPA