South Africa announced today, that it will allocate some 63 million euros of emergency funds for immediate response to this week's devastating flooding in KwaZulu-Natal in the southeast of the country.

"Every year we do a budget for emergencies like this and that amount (1,000 million South African Rand) is available, it can be used from Monday," South Africa's Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana told local Newzroom Afrika television.

According to the minister, quoted by Lusa, these funds will be used to arrange temporary accommodation for people and to hire "professionals who can assess the damage and its cost.

The damage is yet to be quantified, but the provincial governor, Sihle Zikalala, estimated on Thursday that it will be "million-dollar losses" from the floods that caused 400 deaths.

In the municipality that is home to the city of Durban (now eThekwini) alone, the loss is quantified at 757 million rand, according to calculations by the mayor Mxolisi Kaunda.

The port of Durban - the most important cargo shipping on the entire African continent - had to suspend its operations on Wednesday, and the area's railways also suffered significant damage.

"Among the roads (affected) is the one that provides access to the port, not only for trucks from KwaZulu-Natal, but for trucks from all over the country," the Finance Minister warned, adding that there will likely be impacts on the national economy.