00:00I jumped out, I see water here.
00:02I tried to open this door, the water was pulling in.
00:06And then you came out this way?
00:08Yes, I came out this way with my laptop on my head.
00:12The rain was like, yeah, the water was here.
00:17If it wasn't for a neighbor who threw rocks onto the roof to wake her up,
00:22Toza Mangejane would not have made it out of her house.
00:26She's lived in De Colini village for four years
00:29and says while it has rained heavily in the past,
00:32nothing could have prepared her for the recent deluge.
00:36A few days later, she's still assessing the damage.
00:41My couches are damaged because they are wet.
00:45They are full of water.
00:47My mattresses are like, they are wet.
00:50Everything, everything, my TV and my decoder
00:54is, even my wife is gone.
01:00I left nothing, nothing.
01:03Mangejane is just one of thousands of people
01:05affected by flash flooding
01:07which hit several Eastern Cape towns on Monday and Tuesday.
01:11The province is mostly rural
01:13and populated by small towns with poor infrastructure.
01:17At least 78 people were killed in the flooding
01:21which saw houses and bridges washed away.
01:25President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the area
01:28pledging government support to the affected communities.
01:33We are very, very disturbed that so many people
01:36have passed away
01:37but it could have been much worse.
01:39Many of the flooded areas border riverbanks
01:43and in some cases, houses are built on the floodplain.
01:47Residents of De Colini Village say they moved here
01:50because it's close to where the economic opportunities are
01:54in the Mtata city centre.
01:55They say they'd be reluctant to move
01:58because moving would mean having to go much further away.
02:02But government officials say
02:04that might be the only way to keep them safe
02:07considering how close this area is to the riverbank
02:10and how weather patterns have changed
02:12over the past few years.
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