Searches continued Thursday in South Africa to find people missing after floods that killed more than 300 people.
Most of the victims were recorded in the Durban region, a major port in Kwazulu-Natal (KZN) province and epicenter of the bad weather that began last weekend.
A state of disaster has been declared. The authorities spoke of "one of the worst storms in the country's history", President Cyril Ramaphosa on the spot Wednesday deplored "a disaster of enormous proportions".
Men and women drowned. Children and babies have died buried in landslides.
The rains, which reached levels not seen for more than 60 years, also washed away bridges, roads and isolated a large part of the region bordering the Indian Ocean.
More than 200 schools have been affected, thousands of houses destroyed. “Interventions are hampered by damaged infrastructure networks,” the provincial government acknowledged in a statement.
"It's too much," said one of the employees who wished to remain anonymous. He described lines of families coming to bring their dead. Burials have been banned until the waterlogged ground stabilizes.
Waiting to be rescued, thousands of survivors felt left to fend for themselves. “There is no one here who can help us,” said Thobele Sikhephen, 35, outside his muddy house in a township.
Sporadic protests have broken out calling for help. The city of Durban called in a press release "for patience", the relief operations being slowed down "due to the extent of the damage on the roads".
Cleared with diggers, some axes have been reopened but most roads are still inaccessible, strewn with debris or drowned in brownish water.
The authorities have asked people to avoid all contact with this potentially "contaminated" water as much as possible.
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