Toyota's Durban south plant back in operation

The company's Prospecton plant, south of Durban, is finally reopening its doors after a months-long shutdown. 

The devastating floods in April put the brakes on operations there after the facility's production hub suffered extensive damage.

Toyota's Prospecton facility in the Durban south area, the biggest plant in KZN, was severely damaged by the torrential downpours earlier this year.

Toyota SA President Andrew Kirby says getting production going again meant they had to start almost from scratch rebuilding the hub.

"This was really a big challenge for us. We had to know that this crisis would lead to an opportunity to be better than before. How could be look at every possible opportunity to improve what we had to find those opportunities and we know that this is going to take a massive joint effort."

Brand new cars, fresh off the assembly line, were photographed floating in the company's flooded parking lot. 

The N2, which leads to Toyota, was turned into a river temporarily as torrents of floodwaters gushed across the national route. 

READ: Treasury approved R670m in flood relief funds, says Godongwana

Shipping containers swept out of storage in companies nearby were seen submerged on the route. 

On Tuesday, Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube and Economic Development MEC Siboniso Duma were invited on a media tour of the newly-repaired plant. 

Witness accounts from first responders and other recovery personnel who worked to get this facility up and running again are expected to be heard.