Post date: Jan 24, 2011 3:40:39 PM
Eight of nine South African provinces are hit by floods with more than 100 people killed since the beginning of January.
SOWETO, SOUTH AFRICA (JANUARY 13, 2011) ETV- Flooding in South Africa has killed more than 100 people, saturated farms in the major food producer for the continent and led the government to declare 33 municipalities disaster areas.
The government at the weekend said the death toll in flooding over the past month had more than doubled from its previous estimate of 41, with most of the fatalities coming from the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province.
Preliminary assessments show about 424,150 hectares (1 million acres) of land have been affected but there has not yet been estimates on the financial impact of the floods, the agriculture minster told lawmakers in Cape Town.
Thousands of homes have been damaged by floods that have hit eight of nine of South Africa's provinces. Farm group Grain SA said many fields, vineyards and orchards are still under water.
South African logistics group Transnet said this month that heavy rains had disrupted its freight rail operations, affecting coal and maize exports.
Neighbouring Mozambique has also been hard hit, with more than 13,000 people seeing their homes lost or damaged due to high waters. On Sunday (January 23) some 2,000 families were evacuated from the district of Chokwe and Bilene, about 160 (100 miles) north of the capital Maputo, and rescue teams are on stand-by in case floods again sweep through the area.