Sharjah24 - AFP: As temperatures climbed and an overcast sky hung over a storm-ravaged township in eastern South Africa, survivors of the deadly floods sought divine solace observing Easter Sunday.
Inanda, a rural township 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the city of Durban's central business district, was one of the areas devastated by heavy flooding that has killed 443 people and left more than 40,000 homeless.
On Sunday, around 200 Christian worshippers gathered at the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa for an Easter service.
The large white concrete church with a tiled roof ceiling is one of a few solid structures left standing by the raging floods that engulfed the city last week.
The warmer temperatures throughout the day, ranging between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius (59 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit), were much more reflective of Durban's marketing slogan as "the warmest city to be".
But that warmth was not enough to soothe the grieving and suffering survivors.
Thulisile Mkhabela said she was at church because she still had "hope" that her situation would change.
"I felt I should come here to take refuge in the lord... for comfort and to get that hope that we will go through this," said Mkhabela, who returned home from her call centre job on Monday to find floodwater decimating the house she was renovating.
The house started collapsing from the living room.
"We were still awake so we took out whatever we could and took the children to the other house. (As) soon as we took them out then the bedroom started collapsing," she said.
They moved to their outbuilding, which had also been damaged but held together for the rest of the night.
The outbuilding has since collapsed and they are now "squatting" in her brother's two-bedroom house.
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