South Africa’s police minister says the death toll in floods in the Eastern Cape province now stands at 86
ByGERALD IMRAY ASSOCIATED PESS Associated Press
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — The death toll in floods in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province has risen to 86, the police minister said Saturday as rescuers continued to retrieve bodies from the floodwater.
Senzo Mchunu, the country’s top law enforcement official, spoke to police rescue teams that have been searching for missing people and recovering bodies in and around the town of Mthatha since the floods hit in the predawn hours of Tuesday.
Mchunu said the floods were a tragedy but urged local residents to ignore what he called inaccurate reports spreading on social media that the disaster was caused by someone opening the sluice gates at a nearby dam, leading to water surging through communities. Mchunu said the Mthatha Dam in question did not have sluice gates.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Friday during a visit to Mthatha that authorities would investigate if there were any problems with the local dam that might have led to the tragedy.
A wall of water 3-4 meters (10-13 feet) high in places flowed out of the river, the head of the provincial government said, washing away victims with parts of their houses and trapping others inside their homes.
Ramaphosa partly attributed the rains and floods to climate change and said some of South Africa’s coastal regions were now constantly vulnerable to weather-related disasters. More t