With rain falling so heavily that he couldn’t even see where he was going as he walked home on Sunday‚ an Umlazi‚ Durban‚ man fell into the dark confines of a roadside drain. It was here‚ with torrent after torrent of water flowing amid a day-long deluge that lashed KwaZulu-Natal‚ that 40-year-old Pius Shange drowned.
His body was found on Tuesday morning.
His death brings to four the number of people killed during heavy rains that have battered the province since Friday. More than 500 households across the province have been damaged‚ with 237 completely destroyed. The eThekwini metro was the worst hit‚ accounting for 121 of the destroyed houses.
Pius Shange‚ 40‚ had suffered from chronic tuberculosis and was reported missing by his brother Bongumusa on Sunday.
“We think that he was walking in the heavy rain and didn’t see the hole and then fell inside. He was very weak from the illness so he would not have been able to climb out‚” he said while standing at the scene where his brother was pulled from the drain by SAPS Search and Rescue technicians.
“Even then [if he did have the strength] if the water was strong it would mean he would not be able to climb out‚” Bongumusa added.
Police Search and Rescue Unit officers entered the drain and pulled Shange’s body to the roadside on Tuesday morning.
Rescue technicians have had busy days with the weekend’s downpour.
On Monday‚ officers pulled the bodies of a couple from the rubble of their house — which had collapsed on them on Sunday night — in Ntsongeni‚ Umbumbulu‚ in the southern reaches of eThekwini. The couple were found still in their bed underneath a mound of mud and concrete.
In northern KwaZulu-Natal‚ the body of a Nquthu teacher who was swept off a low lying bridge was recovered on Tuesday. According to a statement by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs‚ the 48-year-old’s body was found in the middle of Gubazi River.
Vincent Sbusiso Mcube was a teacher at Ntabasibahle High School in Qhudeni.
“The deceased went missing following torrential rains that swept through the province of KwaZulu-Natal over the past four days‚ causing sporadic incidents of damage in various parts of the province. The car was recovered yesterday and this afternoon the police divers managed to recover the man’s body‚” said the department’s Lennox Mabaso.
Cogta disaster management teams were still scouring the province to check for further damage and loss of life.
The scene in UMBUMBULU where the body of Pius SHANGE was pulled from a storm water drain. He was discovered by passers by @TimesLIVE https://t.co/TbiDlDFWRo
At least four dead in KZN storms
With rain falling so heavily that he couldn’t even see where he was going as he walked home on Sunday‚ an Umlazi‚ Durban‚ man fell into the dark confines of a roadside drain. It was here‚ with torrent after torrent of water flowing amid a day-long deluge that lashed KwaZulu-Natal‚ that 40-year-old Pius Shange drowned.
His body was found on Tuesday morning.
His death brings to four the number of people killed during heavy rains that have battered the province since Friday. More than 500 households across the province have been damaged‚ with 237 completely destroyed. The eThekwini metro was the worst hit‚ accounting for 121 of the destroyed houses.
Pius Shange‚ 40‚ had suffered from chronic tuberculosis and was reported missing by his brother Bongumusa on Sunday.
“We think that he was walking in the heavy rain and didn’t see the hole and then fell inside. He was very weak from the illness so he would not have been able to climb out‚” he said while standing at the scene where his brother was pulled from the drain by SAPS Search and Rescue technicians.
“Even then [if he did have the strength] if the water was strong it would mean he would not be able to climb out‚” Bongumusa added.
Police Search and Rescue Unit officers entered the drain and pulled Shange’s body to the roadside on Tuesday morning.
Rescue technicians have had busy days with the weekend’s downpour.
On Monday‚ officers pulled the bodies of a couple from the rubble of their house — which had collapsed on them on Sunday night — in Ntsongeni‚ Umbumbulu‚ in the southern reaches of eThekwini. The couple were found still in their bed underneath a mound of mud and concrete.
In northern KwaZulu-Natal‚ the body of a Nquthu teacher who was swept off a low lying bridge was recovered on Tuesday. According to a statement by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs‚ the 48-year-old’s body was found in the middle of Gubazi River.
Vincent Sbusiso Mcube was a teacher at Ntabasibahle High School in Qhudeni.
“The deceased went missing following torrential rains that swept through the province of KwaZulu-Natal over the past four days‚ causing sporadic incidents of damage in various parts of the province. The car was recovered yesterday and this afternoon the police divers managed to recover the man’s body‚” said the department’s Lennox Mabaso.
Cogta disaster management teams were still scouring the province to check for further damage and loss of life.
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