During a Good Friday church speech, President Cyril Ramaphosa asked for prayers for flood victims in South Africa, where the death toll had risen to nearly 400.
The official death toll increased to 395 as rescuers expanded their search for others still missing five days after the tragedy devastated the southeastern coastal city of Durban and nearby areas.
“Let us pray for our people in KwaZulu-Natal (province) so that they receive the healing that they need… so that they may get on with their lives,” he urged El-Shaddai Tabernacle church members in Ermelo’s eastern district.
He described the floods as “a calamity of unprecedented dimensions that we have never seen before in our country, with the potential for so many people to perish.”
Ramaphosa claimed he had met a family of ten people, including children, who had died.
During a service carried live on local television networks, he said, “That was one of the saddest times I experienced, even as president.”
“Some of them just saw their family members being swept away by the water as they were helpless to rescue them, reaching out with their hands to embrace them but the power of the water just took them away,” he added, adding that the agony and suffering of victims’ relatives “will linger for years.”
41,000 individuals have been affected by the floods.
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