The World - News from Sept. 29, 1987

Four days of torrential rain in South Africa have left more than 50 people dead and thousands of Zulus in Natal province homeless as floodwaters smashed bridges and washed out roads, rail lines and houses. The record rainfall has been accompanied by hail, snow, lightning and wind. Half the fatalities occurred in traffic accidents. Flooding in low-lying black villages and townships swept away hundreds of houses. At least 15 blacks, nine of them children, were killed when mud buried their shacks in rural Zulu areas of the eastern province.