At least 49 people, including several schoolchildren, have been killed in the floods that have swept through South Africa's Eastern Cape province as torrential rain and snow have hit parts of the country. "The numbers are just escalating hour after hour. The situation is so bad on the ground," provincial premier Oscar Mabuyane said.

Dozens of people were killed in South Africa, including several children whose school bus was swept away by flash floods, as unusually heavy rain, snow and wind pummeled parts of the country’s Eastern Cape Province this week.