Five killed as South Coast storm leaves trail of destruction

Five people have died and infrastructure, homes and businesses were damaged in a flash flood on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast on Sunday night.

Margate was the most severely impacted by the flooding.

Alan Bosch, Margate councillor, said there was heavy and continuous rain from 6pm on Sunday which continued to get heavier.

“Half of Doxa Church is gone, the Margate bowling club is gone, it was completely washed away. The beach area was badly damaged and paving was lifted. Lots of businesses have closed because it is not possible to operate,” he said.

Bosch said electricity and water infrastructure was also damaged.

“The Ugu pump station was severely damaged. We are still assessing the sewerage infrastructure.”

According to Bosch, in Margate extension 3, a couple and a child were swept away in their vehicle and their bodies were recovered on Monday morning.

“In ward 29, a person was killed after being struck by lightning,” he said.

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) spokesperson Siboniso Mngadi also confirmed that the body of a fifth person had been found, though he had no further details.

Bosch said the mayor, municipal manager and disaster teams were assessing the damage.

“The extent of the damage is really concerning but what is more worrying is that there is more rain expected today (Monday).

Pastor of Doxa Church, Werner Olivier, said half of the church’s infrastructure was completely destroyed.

He said the chairs, stage, coffee shop, musical instruments, fridges, couches and other items were swept away. Some items were found kilometres away.

Olivier said he went to the church on Sunday night after receiving an alert from friends about the church being damaged. However, he said he could not get to the building as the water was waist deep.

“While we were standing there, lightning struck the church and we watched the rest of the building come down,” he said.

Olivier said despite the extensive damage, he and his congregation were not discouraged and were placing their faith in God.

Reggie Lantz, who owns a panel-beating workshop in Margate, said the area was a disaster zone.

Lantz said he and two others went to the workshop around midnight to try to move cars but within five minutes the water was above his head.

“We were stuck in the workshop from 1am as we couldn’t be reached by rescuers. We had to stand on a table.

The water was by our necks,” he said. He said he had never seen anything like it. “The cars were floating like soccer balls.”

Lantz said 16 cars that were in his workshop are now standing in the next property, and some were damaged.

“We need help because this is our livelihood and I don’t know how we are going to continue,” he said.

Ugu District Municipality spokesperson France Zama said mayor Skhumbuzo Mqadi led multidisciplinary teams to visit areas of Margate on Monday.

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“Huge damage has been caused to water and road infrastructure around the areas of Margate and an on-site assessment of the damages is under way,” he said.

Zama said clean-up operations were in progress while cost implications of the damages were still being consolidated. Eskom said areas from Park Rynie all the way to Marburg were affected by the storm, with electricity infrastructure also impacted.

“There is no estimated restoration time. Some areas are still inaccessible.

Some substations are back on; however, teams are still patrolling areas to ascertain the extent of damage in some areas,” said the power utility.

The Mercury