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Speaking at the public memorial service, Zolile Williams, a member of the executive council, said the people of the coastal province have not been the same since the disaster hit, and many are now faced with the challenging task of rebuilding.

“Since June 9, this province has been hit hard by unprecedented, catastrophic and unimaginable disasters, where in the whole of the province, about 92 people have perished,� said Williams.

“Since that day, the Eastern Cape has not been the same. It is the first time we have experienced so many dead bodies, some of whom have not yet been found.�

An extreme weather front brought heavy rain, strong winds and snow to parts of the province caused flooding in one of South Africa’s poorest provinces last week, and roads, houses, schools and other infrastructure damaged.

At least in a bus are among the unverified number of missing persons according to local media reports, while thousands have since been displaced.

Authorities have appealed for residents to report missing people so rescuers could better understand how many people they were still looking for.

Religious leaders from different Christian religions were among the hundreds of mourners who attended the memorial ceremony, lighting candles as a symbolic expression of remembering the 92 people who died in the floods.

In a government notice on Wednesday, Elias Sithole, director of the ´ºÉ«Ö±²¥ Disaster Management Centre, said severe weather had caused property damage. and the disruption of vital services in the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, the Western Cape, and the Free State, which prompted South Africa to declare a national state of disaster.

The declaration allows the government to release funding for relief and rehabilitation and will remain in place until it lapses or until the conditions can no longer be categorised as such and is revoked by the head of the centre.

President recently visited the town of Mthatha, in Eastern Cape province, where .

Many of the Eastern Cape flood victims lived on floodplains close to rivers. Government officials said poor neighbourhoods with informal dwellings were most severely impacted. Authorities have been but also for the state of the infrastructure in the area.