By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
SA Police Service (SAPS) in Eastern Cape has confirmed that the death toll in the devastating floods in Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality in the Eastern Cape has risen to 10.
Severe storms and heavy rains battered the metro and caused extreme damage in many areas, in particular Kwanobuhle, Kariega, Walmer, Blue Horizon Bay, and Kamesh.
On Saturday, Police spokesperson, Colonel Priscilla Naidu confirmed that the death toll had risen from eight people to ten.
One of the bodies that were discovered on Friday, was one of two females from East Cape Midlands College’s High Street Campus.
The women were reported missing after Saturday’s flash floods in Kariega when the vehicle they were traveling in got swept away.
Naidu said the woman’s body was discovered on the banks of the Swartkops River in Cuyler Street.
“The vehicle was also found submerged in water.
“Searches for people who have not yet been accounted for are continuing by the SAPS K9 Search and Rescue Diving Units.
“Inquest dockets are opened in all of the above drownings,” Naidu said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa was on a whistle-stop visit to Nelson Mandela Bay to meet residents who were hardest hit by floods in Kariega last week.
Ramaphosa began his visit at the Kariega church hall where more than 100 residents from Ou Lapland were housed after being evacuated last weekend from a flood plain during the heavy rain.
He also went on a brief walkabout before visiting the damaged Kariega fire station and went on an a tour of the VW plant in Kariega which also suffered damage in last week’s floods.
Speaking to the media afterwards, Ramaphosa described the situation as a “huge disaster.”
“We are sorry that we have lost up to 10 lives. We are sorry that a number of people are still in the hospital, but at the same time, we worked together to save many more lives that we could have lost. So we are really grateful. I had an opportunity to speak to people at the community hall, and I gave assurance that the government was going to make an intervention to help them.”