At least five people died early Tuesday in South Africa's coastal city of Durban after torrential rains triggered mudslides that crushed homes, emergency services said.

Among those killed were a six-month-old baby, a child of about 10 and two adults.

"Torrential rains damaged peoples houses (and) there were mudslides," Garrith Jamieson, spokesman for Rescue Care, told AFP.

"I can confirm five (deaths) but there are many more casualties," he said, adding there were unconfirmed reports of "multiple" deaths in other parts of the KwaZulu-Natal province.

Victims were either crushed to death by the mudslides or drowned in flood waters.

It was not immediately clear how many people were missing, but search and rescue operations continued on Tuesday.

Downpours have caused flooding in the southern and eastern parts of the country.

The military has been dispatched to help in rescue and evacuation efforts in some of the affected areas.

The South African Weather Services warned that more heavy rain was expected until Wednesday which could lead to more flooding and pose a threat to low-lying bridges and roads.

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