SA mops up following floods

Abstract

Natural disasters SA mops up following floods I t is a long road of recovery ahead for South Africa after widespread flooding devastated large parts of the country during December and January. Commercial and emerging farmers, rural communities and townsfolk alike endured the destruction of crops, houses, roads, transmission lines, schools, bridges, water pipelines and other infrastructure. At the time of writing no final figures were available but damage was estimated to run into billions of Rands. A total of 33 municipalities were declared disaster areas, and more than 14 000 families have been affected, the majority being in KwaZulu-Natal. In his State of the Nation address in February, President Jacob Zuma allocated R800-million towards disaster relief efforts. Various private institutions and international donors have also availed financial assistance. While thousands of visitors flocked to see the Augrabies Waterfall farmers upstream of the national park were brought to their knees by the devastation of floodwaters.

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