KZN storm declared a provincial disaster

DURBAN — The KwaZulu-Natal provincial cabinet has officially declared Tuesday’s storm a provincial disaster, following the devastating impact the heavy rains had on several districts across the province.

“We met this morning as provincial cabinet and officially declared it a provincial disaster. We will be going to national to see how we have funding from government for this,” Premier Willies Mchunu said yesterday.

To get the funding, the executive council would submit an application to the national government for classification and declaration of the disaster as a provincial disaster in terms of the Section 41 of the Disaster Management Act, “since it affects more than one district”.

Mchunu briefed journalists on Thursday afternoon after visiting bereaved families of those who had died in the storm.

According to Mchunu, the South Africa Police Service had put the official death toll at eight, with five others still missing.

“There are five people who are still uncounted for including an infant. The trauma that has been experienced by the families will take many years to heal.”

The figure could rise as there were other figures being quoted and more people were still coming forward searching for their loved ones, he said. — AFP