Cape Town in South Africa – At least seven people were killed in South Africa's flooding before heavy rain and snow hit the eastern and southern states, officials said Tuesday.
A bus carrying high school students was wiped out by floods in the Eastern Cape, and an unknown number of children were gone, the state government said in a statement. According to the South African National Taxi Council, the bus was run by one of its members, and three children were rescued after they stuck to the tree.
Disaster response teams are being revitalized in the South Coast states.
Six people died in floodwaters in Eastern Cape City, Moussata, where homes and cars remained sunk. According to the state government, the seventh body has been recovered near the town of Tyro, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of Msata.
They said a search is underway for a minibus carrying school children who were swept away on Tuesday morning. Santaco, a taxi council member, said it is unclear how many children there were on the 22-seater bus when swept by the flood on a bridge near Mutasa.
“With witnesses on the scene reported seeing at least three (children) cling to the tree and seeking help,” Santaco said. “The three of them were rescued after that.”
“This is a devastating memory of the forces of nature,” Eastern Cape Prime Minister Oscar Mabuyane said.
Five more people were killed in a car accident in the Eastern Cape on Tuesday, when a Minibus taxi capsizes, according to Unathi Binqose, a spokesman for the state's transportation division. He said the minibus driver was trying to avoid trees that had fallen on the road.
The South African Weather Service predicts days of devastating rain and snow in the Eastern Cape along the Eastern Coast and nearby KwaZulu-Natal. Some of the major highways connecting the two states have been closed as snow and disaster response teams were also activated with Kwazulu-natal.
South Africa sometimes experiences snow in some parts, but authorities have been warning for several days that a particularly strong, cold front is about to strike the country.
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