Following severe flooding in the KwaZulu-Natal region, which has claimed 59 lives so far, shipping at South Africa’s main port has been halted.
After five months of rain fell in just three days, the province’s highways, bridges, and homes were flooded.
Transnet, a state-owned logistics corporation, says the Durban port has been closed until further notice due to flooding-related environmental damage.
The roads leading to the terminals are severely damaged and impassable.
Hundreds of containers were washed away by the roaring waters as a shipping container warehouse near a main highway was severely inundated.
Durban has become the epicentre of the natural disaster, which is quickly turning into a humanitarian crisis.
The N3 motorway, which connects Durban to Gauteng’s economic core, has been partially shut.
Communications have been affected as well. More than 900 mobile phone towers have been reported offline by two major telecommunications operators.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has cut short a trip to Mozambique in order to inspect the devastation in the affected areas.