(Cape Town) Eight Cape Town slum dwellers, including four children, died of electrocution in South Africa during heavy rains which caused flooding and landslides this weekend in the coastal city, municipal services said on Tuesday.
“The disaster management center confirms eight deaths from electrocution. Four people died in the informal settlement of Driftsands and four children in that of Klipfontein,” these services said in a press release.
In South Africa, slum dwellers generally live in corrugated iron shacks built haphazardly alongside dirt roads. Some are illegally connected to the electricity network by makeshift connections.
Some 6,000 people and 1,500 buildings were affected by the strong winds and heavy rain, which eased Monday evening, according to the authorities. Several dozen were evacuated.
Rivers burst their banks and power cuts affected several districts of Cape Town, a tourist city open to the Atlantic Ocean.
On Tuesday, relief workers continued to distribute meals, blankets and baby kits to those forced to leave their homes but the situation is now “under control”, provincial Environment Minister Anton told a press conference. Bredell.
The record levels of rain recorded in the region between Sunday and Monday “obviously speak to climate change and the future challenges that we will face”, he added.