Durban - The search for a 5-year-old girl - believed to have been swept into a raging river on Friday after Friday’s torrential downpours - continued on Monday morning.
Nhlakanipho Shoba had been walking to school outside eZakheni near Ladysmith, with her 5-year-old brother when the two were caught in hail and heavy rain. Nhlakanipho was separated from her brother.
Thus far, all the searchers have found is a sock and jersey that the child might have been wearing.
Police spokesman, Colonel Jay Naicker the SAPS Search and Rescue unit had been searching the area.
The main road, which led to their home, in Somhoek, eKuvukenia, and the Sundays River, had become a raging torrent “within minutes”, said police on the scene.
The boy was found at a nearby house where he had managed to find shelter.
He later told police that there had also been hailstones and that it had rained for two hours without a break.
“The waters were so high and swept her away so fast, that there was nothing that anybody could do,” her father Sipho Hlongwane told The Ladysmith Herald on Friday.
One of the rescue workers, who asked not to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media, told the Daily News that it was difficult to say exactly what had happened because nobody had seen the child being swept away.
“Because of the gushing river and the strong currents, people are making the connection. We had to abandon our search at the weekend because the currents were too strong to continue.”
The rescue worker said the conditions had made it “very difficult” for search and rescue dogs to look for the child.
He said the search would resume on Monday.
“The waters have subsided quite a lot, so it might make our task easier.”
“It’s still a missing persons case at the moment; we’re not drawing any conclusions yet.”
Closer to home, paramedics were placed on emergency alert at the weekend after several weather-related incidents had been reported.
Provincial Emergency Medical Services spokesman, Robert McKenzie, said a mudslide on Friday caused the wall of a house to collapse in Inanda, resulting in a woman being seriously injured.
In Umkhanyakude, there were two reports of lightning strikes.
“In the Mseleni area two ladies in their 50s were injured when lightning reportedly struck their house; they were injured,” McKenzie said.
A teenager in Mosveld was also injured as a result of the lightning.
Daily News