Johannesburg, Apr 12 (PTI): A 70-year-old Hindu temple in the sprawling Indian township of Chatsworth, south of the coastal city of Durban in South Africa, was among the scores of buildings left completely destroyed by unprecedented flood waters and mudslides that ravaged the city on Tuesday morning.
At least 45 people were reported dead, hundreds treated at hospitals for injuries and highways and urban streets had scores of cars floating in knee high water after four days of incessant rain.
Meteorologists said the situation could have been much worse, as the bulk of the storm remained off the coasts of Durban.
Horrified devotees looked on from higher vantage points on a nearby bridge as the temple, situated on the banks of the Umhlatuzana River, rapidly broke into pieces and floated down the river.
During earlier heavy rains and flooding four years ago, the temple suffered some damage, but was restored at a cost of half a million rands.
“Now it is completely gone,” said a sobbing elderly woman identified only as Kamatchee, who said her father was part of the team that built the temple after South African Indians from all over Durban were forcibly resettled in Chatsworth by the apartheid-era separate development policy of racially segregated group areas.
“The deities in our Vishnu temple are still there, but in the mother temple everything is gone. We could not remove them because they are solid granite and are fixed to the temple floor,” assistant secretary of the temple committee Kureasha Moodley, told the news site IOL.
“It is the only temple in the area and I think our devotees have been coming here for over 60 to 70 years. For the past number of years, we have built it up and extended and even added a hall, but after this it will take us a very long time to get back to where we were,” Moodley said.
“The last time, the mother temple and some parts of the yard were still standing. The water came in through doors and windows, but this time the temple yard is non-existent,” she added.
Chaos in Durban continued throughout Tuesday as embattled rescue workers used rubber dinghies to save people trapped on the higher floors or roofs of their homes.
Workers were airlifted from the rooftop of South Africa’s largest crude oil refinery after it remained submerged and a worker sent out an SOS via social media. PTI FH RUP RUP
(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)