President Cyril Ramaphosa was flown by helicopter to visit the Eastern Cape coastal town of Port St Johns on Tuesday as continuous flooding created a growing humanitarian crisis, threatening the livelihoods and water security of hundreds of people. Roads have been seriously damaged and a water treatment plant was destroyed.

Trucks loaded with building materials to provide temporary shelters for more than a thousand people displaced by floods in Port St Johns carefully made their way to the flood-ravaged town on Thursday after some roads reopened.

It has been a week since a second devastating flood hit the popular seaside town and many communities have been cut off after 82 gravel roads and 18 bridges were destroyed.

The province received R13.3-million to repair flood damage in Port St Johns specifically, but Pheelo Oliphant, the spokesperson for the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC, Zolile Williams, said more would be needed.

Repair costs 'gigantic'

"Figures continue to escalate as assessments are done daily," he said.

"The province has not received the allocation from the previous disaster of 2022. There is a backlog. The cumulative results from the previous floods, coupled with last week's disastrous floods, are gigantic.

"Mop-up operations are under way and 1,000 people who were displaced have been given temporary shelter in the Green Farm Youth Centre in Port St Johns."

So far, disaster management teams have found 112 bridges that have been washed away, 39 roads destroyed, 45 damaged stormwater drainage systems and many pontoons, water treatment works...