The South African National Defence Force is on the ground in KwaZulu-Natal to help in the recovery operations after floodwaters destroyed roads and bridges, leaving many people isolated.

During the recent floods some communities around KwaZulu-Natal were trapped on islands as bridges, linking roads and freeways were torn down by raging waters one after the other.

When the Intake Bridge over the Umlazi River succumbed to the floods more than three weeks ago, it did not go down alone. It swept away the Olympic Bus carrying workers and residents. Some of the passengers managed to break windows and swim to safety. But a few of them, including old women and young children and the 67-year-old driver, Zonda Thusi, were trapped inside. They are still missing.

The collapse of the bridge isolated residents of Intake, Nkoselweni, Tafelkop and Zwelibomvu from the rest of the world. They could not travel out of their area to get to work, schools, hospitals, malls or anywhere else.

So it was a welcome relief - for those trapped people - when the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) set up camp near the Intake Bridge and began rebuilding the bridge, searching for missing flood victims and...