From the news desk

Durban storm death toll now at 8, may rise

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The number of people who have died following heavy storms and flooding in KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday has reached eight and could rise, provincial government departments said during a joint briefing.

“We can confirm that eight people were killed as a result of the floods yesterday. There are those that are still missing, so it is possible that this may rise,” acting MEC for Co-operative Governance Wesizwe Thusi told reporters during a briefing on Wednesday.

Thusi and other MECs from the health and human settlements departments, as well as the eThekwini municipality are currently assessing damage caused during Tuesday’s storm, including to the King Edward VIII and Prince Mshiyeni Memorial hospitals in Durban.

Meanwhile, Durban harbour was still closed on Wednesday morning with authorities having spent Tuesday night refloating five vessels that were pushed aground, while emergency services were still on alert after a massive storm that killed at least six people.

“[Emergency Medical Services] are still on high alert because rivers are swollen and informal structures were badly damaged”, EMS spokesperson Robert McKenzie said of the storm on Tuesday.

McKenzie praised emergency workers as “heroes” who did everything they could to help communities.

In the meantime, the SA Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) said it spent Tuesday night and Wednesday morning refloating ships in distress.

“I have not seen anything like it,” Samsa chief operating officer, Sobantu Tilayi, told News24.

The MSC Innes, MS New York, Bow Triumph, the SA Shipyard floating dock and the new harbour tug were pushed onto sandbanks.

The MSC Susanna and Maritime Newanda broke their moorings and had to be held by harbour tugs to prevent them from also running aground, according to an earlier statement issued by Samsa.

In a statement, Tilayi said the safety authority’s principal officer in Durban, Captain Hopewell Mkhize and Durban harbour master, Captain Alex Miya, formed a joint operations committee with the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) to help vessels that had run aground.

“We prioritised the bigger ships because of the pollution risk,” he said.

According to the statement, it took five tugboats to refloat the 330m long MSC Innes, which was blocking the harbour entrance. It has gone in to port for damage inspection.

Bow Triumph, a 183m long product tanker berthed in Island View, broke its moorings and ran aground on the sand bank near the Island View Terminal. It was refloated at 16:30. The work of clearing the anchors which were stuck was also done.

[Source: News24]
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