The Number Of People Killed And Injured By The KwaZulu-Natal Summer Storms Revealed. This was said at a combined media briefing at Harry Gwala district Municipality on Thursday.
According to the department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs and basic education, about 44 people passed away, 193 were hurt and 30 000 were impacted by the storms that occurred between November 2019 and January 2020 in KwaZulu-Natal. This was said at a combined media briefing at Harry Gwala district Municipality on Thursday.
The two were speaking to the media at Umzimkhulu council chambers. The minister of the department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs stated that 445 instances were reported to the disaster management centres in KZN from November 2019 to January 2020. “We have established through evidence on the ground that the province of KwaZulu-Natal has, since November 2019, experienced a number of extreme weather-related incidents including fatal thunderstorms, heavy rainfall, and strong winds,” says Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
She went on to say that the most recent instances happened during the holiday season, while a lot of individuals were preparing for Christmas and in bringing in the New Year. There were 112 instances linked to strong, 67 linked to lightning, 113 structural fires, 109 instances of heavy rainfall, 19 hailstorms and 8 instances of people who drown. Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma along with the basic education Minister Angie Motshekga and the KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikala used up the majority of Thursday morning to go checkout a few of the 15 schools in the Harry Gwala area that were destroyed by the storms.
Minister Dlamini-Zuma says the human settlements department replied to the victims of the disaster. “The department is providing temporary residential accommodation for all affected families. Building material will be supplied to families at the cost of R8000 per household. Sassa has committed to provided groceries to the amount of 750 to the affected families for a period of three months,” says the minister. She also went on to thank several non-governmental organisation and people for their help in giving assistance to the others.
by Alexandra Ramaite
