A four-year-old child has gone missing while several others had to be rescued by helicopter from trees in the waterlogged Mopani District in Limpopo on Thursday.
Mopani District municipality spokesperson Odas Ngobeni said the child was swept away at her home while her parents were evacuating after heavy rainfall at Mbaula village.
He said a team of divers has been requested and would be conducting the search and rescue operation.
This comes as floods continue unabated in some parts of the Vhembe and Mopani districts, where some major roads have been closed and residents have been cut off from the rest of the communities.
Some residents of Greater Letaba municipality in ward 25 told Sowetan the flood had left them stranded and that they had been separated from other villages.
Buqa village headman Malekutu Rabohale said his community has been left looking like an island, as the two bridges connecting the village were swept away.
“We are trapped because we can’t travel and there is nowhere we can go to get basic needs. For the past two days there has not been a bakery or taxis because the bridges, which were shoddily built, are now gone,“ he said.
Rabohale added that the incomplete Meetsi-a-phepha river bridge was supposed to have been completed by now.
“We have been pleading with the government to fast-track the construction of the bridge, which was supposed to be completed in six months but has gone beyond. We anticipated that during the rainy season we were going to be stranded, but our plea fell on deaf ears,” he said.
Another resident, Masilo Selamolela, has called on the government to fire the company behind the construction of the bridge.
“As things stand here, the bridge is going to kill people because many wrongs were done during the first phase of the construction; hence, it was washed away,” he said.
Mopani mayor Pule Shayi has called on communities to be extra vigilant as the district continues to experience disruptive rain.
Shayi said it had already caused extensive damage to road infrastructure in most parts of the district, with most rivers overflowing and some houses around Giyani reported to be waterlogged.
“The team is on high alert to provide rescue operations and to co-ordinate support to the affected communities. However, we want to urge our people to remain extra vigilant, avoid crossing rivers and streams, parking under trees and to stay away from power lines. We urge our people to only travel when it is absolutely necessary,” he said.
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