By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The death toll from Limpopo flooding has risen to 11 people, including a five-year-old child, as heavy rains and flooding continue across the province.
Infrastructure damage already exceeds R4 billion, with 439 roads requiring repairs totalling 600km, while over 1 600 homes have been damaged or destroyed.
Limpopo Premier Phophi Ramathuba has confirmed the province’s death toll, saying the casualties include a five-year-old child.
Ramathuba estimates that over R4 billion will be required to rebuild the damaged infrastructure, with R1.7 billion alone needed for road repairs.
Ramathuba added, “Schools have been destroyed. Health facilities, crippled, and families are displaced. Their rooms are reduced to memories. As of today, we regret to inform you that we have lost a total of nine lives to these floods. This is the number that includes the seven that happened during December, and the two that happened since the first of January.
She says food security is also at risk, with some farmers unable to transport their goods due to damaged roads.
“But unfortunately, when the roads and the bridges are damaged, they won’t be able to transport them. So, if we don’t fix it urgently, unfortunately, we will all be affected, and we’ll die of hunger if this particular sector is not taken care of. The quantification of these losses has not yet been made due to the inaccessibility of the flood-affected areas.”
Ramathuba conveyed her deepest condolences to all families grieving during this tragic period.
“We mourn together, and I believe, as a prior province, who will rise together.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa visited flood-stricken areas in Limpopo on Thursday and said that region had received around 400 millimeters (more than 15 inches) of rain in less than a week.
He said that in one district he visited “there are 36 houses that have just been wiped away from the face of the Earth. Everything is gone … the roofs, the walls, the fences, everything.”
Ramaphosa noted that government officials have been on the ground “doing everything they can to assist the people who have been affected by the floods”.
“Provincial government…has come out in a very strong way. So much as disaster befalls us with climate change, with rains that are now devastating, we’ve been able to find a response. Of course, we need to do a little bit more.”
“And of course, our South African Airforce…came out with their helicopters and rescued a number of people from rooftops and from trees. That shows that our response to disaster is getting better both at the institutional level like the Airforce, the South African Defence Force and also at local government level, “he added.
“The solidarity and the cooperation that we have seen amongst our people here is quite amazing. We heard how one person was thoughtful enough and threw a rope to people who were stranded. They tied the rope around each other and pulled each other out of what would have been certain death.
The President warned that the effects of climate change are now truly beginning to show.
Meanwhile the preliminary assessments in Mpumalanga indicate that flood-related damage to infrastructure is estimated at approximately R2 billion.
Since the onset of the rains in November last year, 19 people have lost their lives, and more than 1,200 households have been adversely affected.
The provincial government continues to monitor the situation as they prepare the formal submission for national disaster intervention.
The South African Weather Service issued a red-level 10 alert for parts of the country for Friday, warning of more heavy rain and flooding that poses a threat to lives and could cause widespread infrastructure damage.