Death toll in S Africa floods rises to 78

South Africa rescue teams recovered more bodies Thursday, days after heavy rains and strong winds battered the Eastern Cape province, as the death toll rose to at least 78.

The bitterly cold winter storm struck the largely rural and underdeveloped province on Monday, causing a river to burst its banks and submerge homes, with several make-shift dwellings toppled.

The worst-hit area was around the city of Mthatha, about 800 kilometres (500 miles) south of Johannesburg, where residents picked through the mud three days later to salvage what they could from their destroyed homes.

AFP journalists saw a rescue team pull four bodies, some of them children, from a one-roomed house in the late afternoon as locals watched.

Houses, trees and cars were covered in mud and fields were strewn with debris.

"As the water subsides, more bodies are being discovered," said Caroline Gallant, Eastern Cape manager at the South African Red Cross Society, which has sent assistance to the disaster zone.