Six people died in the heavy rains that lashed parts of eThekwini Municipality on Wednesday night.

The death toll was confirmed by eThekwini Municipality spokesperson, Gugu Sisilana who said the victims included a 44-year-old man and a 41-year-old woman who were trapped in a formal structure in Adams Mission.

The four others who died include a 45-year-old man in KwaMakhutha, a 13-year-old boy in Folweni, a 12-year-old girl in Demat and a 13-year-old girl in Ensimbini.

Sisilana said emergency services including the City’s Disaster Management, Fire Department, as well as the SAPS, Pathology, and Emergency Medical Services, had responded to incidents including where people had been trapped under rubble after walls and other structures had collapsed.

“The adverse weather experienced in the City led to the collapse of formal and informal structures with reports of entrapments being attended to by authorities.”

The City has also announced the temporary closure of seven beaches as a result of muddy water and pollution from flooded estuaries.

There have also been numerous reports of uprooted trees which are obstructing roadways in Chatsworth, Umkhomazi, Morningside and Verulam.

Canals are flowing at full capacity with the risk of flooding nearby properties in the south of Durban near the Isipingo and Prospecton areas.

The City’s Forecast Early Warning System revealed that 184mm of rain was reported in the eManzimtoti area, south of the Durban CBD,

between midnight and 5am yesterday morning.

Sisilana said several areas including eManzimtoti, Chatsworth and Isipingo are affected. She said electricity outages were also reported in some areas and ongoing restoration is under way.

The closed beaches are: uMdloti Beach, Isipingo Beach, Pipeline Beach, Toti Main Beach, Warner Beach, Winklespruit Beach, and uMgababa Beach.

“These beaches will be reopened as soon as conditions allow,” the City said.

She added that the financial implications associated with incidents from the adverse weather have not yet been quantified as this required extensive assessments after the mop-up operations.

Garrith Jamieson from ALS Paramedics said paramedics were called to Adams Mission where a structural collapse occurred as a result of a landslide.

He said the whole family were in the house at the time of the incident.

“Fortunately the children escaped unharmed but the parents were trapped in the rubble.”

Jamieson said their paramedics also responded to another incident where a man was trapped after a landslide.

KZN Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Thulasizwe Buthelezi conveyed his condolences to the families of the deceased.

“We express our condolences and call on citizens to be vigilant and on high alert.”

Buthelezi also spoke on a memorandum of understanding that was signed yesterday with key partners to enhance disaster preparedness.

He said the public-private partnership was important to ensure that resources were boosted.

THE MERCURY