The rain has stopped in Durban. The sun has risen and clouds have lifted from the lush green hills.
But people here are only just beginning to process the complete devastation around them.
A week after pounding rain in this coastal region caused one of the deadliest natural disasters in South Africa’s history, the government on Tuesday was plotting an arduous road ahead of cleanup and rebuilding, while still trying to recover dozens of bodies believed to have been buried under mud or washed-out to sea.
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday evening declared a national state of disaster, almost a week to the day after the Durban area was overwhelmed by flooding and mudslides that have killed a confirmed 443 people. About four dozen people remain unaccounted for, Ramaphosa said in an address to the nation, and more than 40,000 have been displaced from their homes. Nearly 4,000 homes have been completely destroyed and more than 8,300 have sustained at least some damage, the president said.
“Tonight, we are a nation united in our grief,” Ramaphosa said.
This was the latest disaster in a string of powerful storms across southern and eastern Africa that have claimed hundreds of lives and razed communities already struggling with poverty. For many, it has underscored the increasing toll of climate change, especially for the most socioeconomically vulnerable, and amplified the need for a more aggressive government response in South Africa and elsewhere to stem the rising number of weather-related fatalities.