KZN storm claims five lives, MEC visits victims
KZN Cooperative Governance MEC Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi was in Mtubatuba on Monday, visiting the family of the victims of this weekend's storm in the area.
Five people, including a one-year-old baby, were killed in the northern KZN town as heavy rains and a hailstorm battered the uMkhanyakude District.
The storm also damaged homes and roads and brought down power lines.
The department says the Provincial Disaster Management Team is still assessing the damage.
But the NFP's Canaan Mdletshe says the district should be declared a disaster area.
READ: More weather warnings issued for KZN
"The sad reality is that uMkhanyakude was declared one of the poorest areas in KwaZulu-Natal by the former president Thabo Mbeki and his cabinet at that time.
"Therefore, that area needs serious attention, and this disaster has come at a time when the poorest of the poor were living in dire circumstances. The past two years, heavy rains have been pouring in the province, and we have seen very little intervention from the government."
There were also heavy downpours in the Ugu and eThekwini districts over the weekend.
eThekwini's Disaster Management Team says its preliminary report shows 239 people have been affected by the rains, with 29 houses destroyed.
The city says one person was injured when lightning struck in Intshanga.
It says areas that have mostly been affected include Ekukhanyeni, Newtown A, Umlazi, Intshanga, Molweni, and Briardene.
