Mini-floods in the town of uMhlathuze wreaked havoc on Monday as rescue teams rushed to attend to road, household, accidental, electrical and commercial emergencies.
No fatalities were reported, but significant damage was caused.
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Staff at Little Junior School at ZCBF Community Park spent half of Monday cleaning up after the school sank ankle deep after heavy rain over the weekend.
Manager Anna Mari Joubert said they arrived to find a strong current of water had entered their premises, damaging the property.
They had to make holes in their perimeter walls to allow water to escape and dug trenches to redirect the flow of water.
Due to the constant rainfall, water was flowing down into their premises at the end of the saturated grounds of the ZCBF park.
“After trying to divert water from the premises, we piled sandbags to stop further flooding, but the damage had already been done as our classroom and office furniture were all damaged by the water. .
“We have had the areas close to the perimeter walls dredged to allow the water to drain by another route and we will have to consider repairing our walls once this is complete.
“Due to the clean-up operation which lasted most of the day, we have advised parents to collect their children for safety and we hope this will be resolved as soon as possible.
“We are calling on all businesses to help us with a donation of sandbags that we can place in and around the entrance to the building to prevent this from happening again,” Joubert said.
Meanwhile, properties in the vicinity of Richards Bay suffered extensive damage and there were also instances of electric shocks.
Ward Councilor Henning de Wet reported that a monkey was electrocuted after hitting a street light pole, while a child was also electrocuted after stepping into water carrying electric current.
Severe flooding was reported across the city and several roads were temporarily closed.
Visiting a flooded scene at Apiesdoring in the Arboretum, Councilor Christo Botha said a property had been badly damaged and tenants living in a granny flat were counting their losses as all their furniture had suffered damage from water.
A sinkhole damaged complex property at Tassel Berry in the Arboretum and water was shut off as crews worked to repair infrastructure.
At Haakdoringrug in the Arboretum, a recently repaired culvert gave way under the force of the water and properties below the damaged area were flooded.
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