South Africa floods claim Zimbabwe man's life

Floods in the eastern provinces of South Africa claimed their first life when the roof of a dwelling collapsed in Tonga, near the Mozambique border, the Nkomazi local municipality said on Friday.

Two men were asleep in the house on Thursday night when a violent storm caused the roof to collapse, spokesman Cyril Repinga said.

The man who was killed was believed to be a Zimbabwean. Authorities had been unable to find his family. Another man in the house was critically injured with a suspected spinal injury.

The death was the first known to be related to the recent heavy rains.

Repinga said there were concerns over the safety of the municipal water as the heavy rains had affected water plants. Tankers were providing water to residents, but struggled to keep up with the demand.

Residents supplied by the Ntunda, Sibange, Langeloop, and Masibekela water treatment plants were reliant on the province's department of co-operative governance for clean water.

The municipality had posted signs to redirect traffic on roads and bridges deemed unsafe.

The extreme weather was attributed to a tropical low pressure system that developed over the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar before moving over the southern part of Mozambique, entering South Africa on Monday from Maputo.

The system, which brought heavy rain, covered the entire region from northern KwaZulu-Natal to northern Limpopo.

Repinga said more rain was predicted over the weekend, which could have severe consequences for communities already swamped.

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