A painful winter as flood death toll rises to 88

SOUTH Africa is reeling from the devastating impact of widespread flooding that has left at least 88 people dead in the Eastern Cape, including a two-year-old child, as communities struggle to come to terms with the destruction caused by last week's torrential rains.

- STAFF REPORTER

A powerful cut-off low weather system swept through large parts of the country, bringing days of relentless rainfall that triggered landslides, road collapses, and the destruction of homes, with the Eastern Cape bearing the brunt of the disaster.

Rescue teams, supported by police, SANDF personnel, and volunteers, continue to search for the missing. Temporary shelters have been erected to house displaced families, some of whom lost everything in a matter of hours. The emotional toll has been immense.

"We are sleeping in a hall with no mattresses, just blankets," said Nosipho, a mother of three who was forced to flee her home in Port St Johns.

"The water just came. It took everything, our clothes, our food, my child's schoolbooks."