Cape Town: Local authorities have reported that four women are currently missing, while one man and a child have been found deceased at separate locations amid devastating floods in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
Parts of Kariega, a town north of the Gqeberha city under the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality in the province, are currently submerged underwater due to heavy rains that occurred on Saturday.
The heavy downpour has flooded homes, vehicles are being washed away, and there are power outages in certain areas, Xinhua news agency reported.
“The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality continues to experience adverse weather conditions that have resulted in floods in some parts of Gqeberha and large parts of Kariega,” said the municipal government in a statement on Sunday morning.
“Two Joint Operations Centers (JOC) have been activated in Gqeberha and Kariega,” it said.
“The adverse conditions have also resulted in power outages across the Metro.”
Meanwhile, according to the South African National Rescue Institute (NSRI), multiple rescue operations are underway, and people have been evacuated safely from buildings, residences, and vehicles.
In one incident on early Sunday morning, a security officer reported a vehicle with six persons trapped in the flooded Brak River, Rocklands. One male was successfully rescued from an island formed in the river, while an adult female was swept away and remains missing.
Fortunately, “the remaining four of these six people were recovered safely on the Southern side of the river,” said the NSRI.
In a separate statement issued on Sunday, the Eastern Cape provincial government noted that “emergency services have been working throughout the night and are still working and searching to assist people affected by the flooding”.
–IANS
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