South Africa Cleans Up After Rainstorms that Claimed 32 Lives

Municipalities in five of South Africa’s nine provinces are cleaning up after two weeks of stormy weather that claimed 32 lives and displaced thousands of people.

Twenty-five people drowned, six were struck by lightning and one was crushed by a collapsed wall, Andries Nel, the deputy minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs, told reporters today in Pretoria, the capital. Three others are missing, he said.

“Rescue and search services remain on high alert,” Nel said. “There has been considerable damage to road and bridges, houses, water pumps, pipes and other water infrastructure.” The cost hasn’t yet been assessed, he said.

The storms affected communities in the North West, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.

The South African Weather Services has indicated that the situation has stabilized and normal weather patterns were resuming, Ken Terry, head of the South African National Disaster Management Service, told reporters.