Man, part of his house washed away by flood

Search and rescue teams have been deployed in Mpumalanga after a man was washed away by floods after heavy rains.

Provincial police spokesperson Brig Leonard Hlathi said the man, in his 30s, and half of his house were swept away in KaNyamazane township, 25km from Mbombela, on Saturday night.

Police divers and the community were conducting a search which had yielded no results by 3pm yesterday. 

The man has only been identified as Sipho by his sister, who answered his wife's phone yesterday.

“Sipho is missing. His wife is injured and she cannot talk to you now,” said the sister.  

“The K9 Unit (rescuers and divers) is busy with a search ... According to information received by police last night at around 23:00, the man was not feeling well and decided to go to the sitting room after taking some tablets.

"Shortly after that, the wife heard a huge noise and went to check and that is when she discovered that half of their house had collapsed and her husband was missing. It's suspected so far that he had drowned and was washed away by a stream behind their house,” said Hlathi. 

Three people have been killed in the province since heavy rains hit parts of the country last week.

A five-year-old child was washed away in Masoyi while a 40-year-old man from Graskop, also in Mpumalanga, was swept away. Another five-year-old was washed away from her mother's arms in Badplaas. 

The N4 was closed for hours yesterday between KaNyamazane and Matsulu after collapsed rocks blocked the road, which was flooded. 

This comes just as the SA Weather Service issued an “orange” warning of disruptive rainfall in Mpumalanga and Limpopo between today and tomorrow.

“This might result in flooding in places as the soil is still saturated due to the rainfall from the tropical depression Eloise,” the weather service said in a statement.

It warned that “disruptive” rainfall was expected over the eastern parts of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, resulting in “flooded low-lying areas, isolated incidents of breaching earth dam walls”.

The weather service also warned against “general disruption to traffic and basic services, flooding of roads and settlements (both formal and informal), dangerous driving conditions on tarred and dead roads due to an increased number of pot-holes, as well as danger to life (particularly fast-flowing rivers and streams)".

The Kruger National Park has also issued a warning of “a high possibility of [the] Crocodile River flooding" and the bridge being closed. - Additional Reporting Nomahlubi Jordaan