South Africa’s recent flash floods have left 3,500 damaged Toyota vehicles, with only 500 of them passing inspection to be sold on the market, Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) announced on Thursday.
TSAM, which has a plant at its Prospecton factory south of Durban along the Umlazi River banks, said the devastating heavy rainfall in KwaZulu-Natal province overwhelmed its defensive mechanism set up after 2017 floods in the area.
“These measures worked successfully at keeping the flood waters at bay. But they were, unfortunately, no match for the mass of water that breached the facility when the banks of the Umlazi River broke,” TSAM said in a statement.
Plant activities have been suspended while assessment and clean-up take place, said TSAM, which is the country’s automotive market leader.
Following the death of over 450 people from the floods, KwaZulu-Natal is now in recovery mode as search teams visit 8,000 damaged houses and more than 40,000 people left homeless to help them return to normalcy in the aftermath of the deluge.
According to President Cyril Ramaphosa, his government has authorised an initial emergency fund of US$70 million to assist the needy as Pretoria sources additional funding from the Solidarity Fund, originally set up to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
NM/jn/APA