South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to visit the sites of devastating floods that have left at least 78 people dead in the southeast of the country.

The death toll in floods in one of South Africa's poorest provinces rose to at least 78 on Thursday as a top official said rescue attempts in the first hours after the disaster had been "paralyzed" by a lack of resources.

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.