S.Africa floods kill 12, affect Kruger National Park


Floods triggered by heavy rains have killed at least 12 people in South Africa, authorities said Tuesday, after the presidency declared a national state of disaster.

The bad weather — which is expected to last for the rest of the week — struck the east, north and south, claiming lives in four of South Africa’s nine provinces, said the department in charge of disaster management, COGTA.

The famed Kruger National Park, a tourist magnet bordering Mozambique and the largest reserve in South Africa, was badly affected, COGTA spokesman Lungi Mtshali told AFP.

Mpumalanga province, in northeast South Africa, “seems to be hardest hit so far. Kruger is really bad,” said Mtshali.

He said the death toll had risen to 12, up from seven on Monday.

Kruger is crossed by several rivers, which have been swollen by torrential rains since last weekend, according to the South African Weather Service (SAWS).


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