South Africa’s flood-ravaged Durban city

South Africa’s southeastern city of Durban became this week battered via the heaviest rains on report, flattening a few neighborhoods and killing more than 300 people.

Durban is South Africa’s third-largest city via populace with three.5 million humans.

It became founded in 1835 on what was then known as the Port Natal after which renamed after a governor of the Cape Colony, Sir Benjamin D’Urban.

Durban has one of the southern hemisphere’s largest ports and is the busiest gateway to seaborne trade for countries in southern Africa.

As a key global trade conduit for its neighbors, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi, Lesotho and eSwatini have traditionally depended on it for the bulk of their imports and exports.

It is the base of South Africa’s sugar industry and a nerve center of a diverse manufacturing industry that includes Japanese automaker Toyota.

According to the Durban municipality, the port and its related industries contribute more than 20 percent of the city’s GDP.

Popular for its idyllic Indian Ocean beaches and game and nature reserves, it is a magnet for both local and international tourists, competing with Cape Town for travelers’ cash. Its international airport receives long-haul international flights.

Durban bore the brunt of last July’s deadly riots that began when former president Jacob Zuma was sent to prison for refusing to testify in a corruption probe.

It is a bastion of Zuma’s political support, counting a significant number of voters for the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

Zulus form the largest single ethnic group in the city and surrounding areas, but the city also hosts the largest concentration of Indians in South Africa.

Counted amongst some of the globe’s quickest-growing urban regions, Durban hosts important carrying occasions, such as cricket and athletics. The Comrades ultramarathon, first run in 1921, is staged yearly among the cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg, about eighty kilometers (55 miles) away.

Durban become one of the main host towns for the 2010 football World Cup at its 70,000-seat Moses Mabhida Stadium.