FIVE men are believed to have drowned while trying to cross swollen rivers in on Sunday, police said, bringing to 48 the number of lives lost in floods in the country in the past week. Two of the victims were swept off a bridge over the Nkondlo River in Eastern Cape. The other three are believed to have drowned when they tried to cross the Crocodile River in Northern province. Torrential rain has pelted the northern and eastern parts of South Africa for a week and the Northern province bore the brunt of resulting floods, said to be the worst in the country in living memory.