By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Police Minister Bheki Cele has announced on Friday that the death toll from the KwaZulu-Natal floods now stands at 447.
He said 89 people are still missing.
Search-and-recovery operations continue as families are still searching for loved ones, adding that to date, the units have responded to 854 call-outs and scene visits.
Cele said there are lessons to be learned from the KwaZulu-Natal floods.
“During the floods no one cared about their race, political affiliation or anything like that, everybody wanted to help or save [other people]. While the police and other stakeholders did all they could in difficult times, there must be better national coordination of disaster relief response in the future,” said Cele.
The search and rescue teams, which consisted of frontline officers, K9 units, diving teams with various vessels, helicopters, and fixed airwing planes from across the country, responded to the floods after President Cyril Ramaphosa declare a state of disaster in the province.
The government has since announced multi-faceted interventions for the victims of the floods ranging from measures to alleviate the economic impact on road users to the rebuilding and rehabilitation of infrastructure.
Meanwhile Water and Sanitation Minister, Senzo Mchunu, says the department has made progress in restoring water supply to areas that were severely impacted by the recent devastating floods in KwaZulu-Natal.
Mchunu said this when he tabled his maiden budget vote to a mini-plenary of the National Assembly on Friday.
“Good progress has been made with regards to the restoration of water supply but there has been immense damage to water and sanitation infrastructure.
“Together with the municipalities, we completed the costing of this damage and submitted an application to the Department of Cooperative Governance for national disaster funding.
Once funding is allocated, we will continue to be involved in the planning and monitoring of implementation of the reconstruction projects, with a stern focus of building back better,” he said.
Mchunu also used his budget vote speech to convey his sincere condolences to the families of those who lost loved ones in the floods.
“We would also like to express empathy for all those who are still without water and sanitation services due to the floods, and to assure them that we are working as fast as possible to restore these services.
Mchunu said immediately after the floods, the department established a water and sanitation war room, together with the worst affected municipalities.
“Our department quickly hired water tankers to supplement those available in the municipalities and we seconded a team of engineers and other specialists to the war room to assist with the implementation of emergency repair work and to assess and quantify the damage,” he said.