O.R Tambo district municipality mayor Mesuli Ngqondwana has paid a visit to a grieving Coffee Bay family which lost two children to floods.
The Moyi family is in mourning after the siblings, aged six and four, were swept away by the floods on Friday night. The sibling’s mother is still missing. The torrential rains, accompanied by strong winds, also destroyed houses in Coffee Bay’s villages.
“We are here to support you during this difficult time and to ensure that working together with all relevant departments, your livelihood is restored,” Ngqondwana said.
Zimkhitha Macingwane, spokesperson for the O.R Tambo district municipality, said on Monday that a search and rescue operation will continue for other missing people.
“A joint operation between the police and the community of Coffee Bay has led to the recovery of the two bodies. The deceased were part of people who were reported missing following floods in Coffee Bay,” said Macingwane at the time.
“The siblings, a six-year-old girl and her four-year-old sister, were swept away by the raging waters that destroyed their house at Lutshini village while they were sleeping on Friday night.”
Macingwane said the search continues for the missing children’s mother, who was in the house with them when it crumbled.
“Another pair of siblings, two girls aged five and seven from Qhogi village, are still missing after they drowned while crossing a flooded stream with their mother and an older sister. The family was returning home from a clinic on Friday,” said Macingwane.
By Monday, five more people were believed to be still missing and the O.R. Tambo multi-stakeholder disaster and risk management team was continuing its search and rescue operation in Coffee Bay’s affected villages.
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