Holidaymakers urged to delay trips to KZN South Coast towns battered by severe flooding
A fallen tree is removed from a road on the KZN South Coast.
Image: Ugu District Municipality
Holidaymakers and tourists have been urged to slightly delay trips to the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast after the area was lashed by a severe storm on Sunday that resulted in the death of a woman and severe damage to infrastructure.
Margate, Shelly Beach and Port Shepstone were among the areas affected. Premier Thami Ntuli visited the area on Monday to assess the storm damage.
Providing an update on the floods, Ray Nkonyeni Municipality said the localised flooding had impacted several areas and more heavy rainfall had been forecast until midnight on Monday.
A wall damaged by the severe flooding on the KZN South Coast on Sunday.
Image: Ugu District Municipality
In a statement issued by the municipality on Monday morning, it confirmed that a 63-year-old woman was confirmed dead after a mudslide in the Ebomvini area and warned motorists to avoid road trips to the lower south coast if necessary.
“We can confirm that one person died after her house fell on her at Ebomvini. Residents and motorists are urged to exercise extreme caution, avoid unnecessary travel, and delay road trips where possible as adverse weather conditions are expected to persist until 23h59 tonight,” read the statement.
The municipality's spokesperson Simon April said the woman was inside the house when a mudslide occurred. He said while the assessment and mop up operations are being conducted, the weather services has predicted that the rainfall will persist until Monday night and urged motorists to delay their trips to the area.
He said that the impact was most severe at the Margate Beach promenade, Shelly Beach and Port Shepstone CBD, as well as surrounding areas.
He said fallen trees that had obstructed roads and posed risks to road users were being removed. Residential and business properties were affected and sink holes were reported at Manaba and Leisure Bay. Lower level bridges along the P200 were flooded and the Ugu pump station at Borough Sportsgrounds was submerged. The floods also caused a power outage in Oslo Beach.