More rain lashes S Africa's flood ravaged east

DURBAN, Apr 16 (AFP): South Africa's flood-ravaged east was hit by more rain Saturday after the deadliest storm to hit the country in living memory killed nearly 400 people and left tens of thousands homeless.

Floodwaters engulfed parts of the eastern coastal city of Durban earlier in the week ripping apart roads, sweeping away homes and those trapped inside them, and pulling down heavy cargo containers.

Emergency services in the southeastern KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province, where Durban is located, were on high alert as weather forecasters predicted more rain over the Easter weekend.

"It's already raining in some parts of KZN but it won't be as hectic as it was in the past few days," Puseletso Mofokeng, senior forecaster at the South Africa Weather Service told AFP.

"But because of the soil being oversaturated with water, we can still get a lot of flooding," he warned.

The provincial government said on Friday that disaster management teams were on "high alert to swiftly respond to communities known to be at high risk, to avert or minimise the disaster impact".