Damage caused by Durban rains should be assessed: Mayor
eThekwini Mayor James Nxumalo has asked the Department of Human Settlements and the city's Disaster Management Unit to do an assessment to determine the extent of the damage caused by the weekend's heavy rains.
Nxumalo has been visiting flood-affected areas in Durban today.
He has met with the family of a five-year-old boy who was killed after his house which had been built on a riverbank collapsed during the downpour.
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Nxumalo says it's a tragic loss of life but also a lesson to everyone.
''We want to make a clear call to all our people to say look, we understand that people are in demand of houses. They need accommodation because of the backlog that we are facing but at the same time we cannot accept a situation where people end up risking their own lives and building structures in places where they are not suppose to.
"Therefore, we want to ensure that we come up with a plan as to how to make sure those people are relocated to safer areas," he said.
The mayor has been distributing blankets and food with the help of the Al-Imdaad Foundation to those affected by the floods.
