More than 300 people have been killed in floods in and around the eastern coastal city of Durban in recent days. On Wednesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa described the floods as a “massive catastrophe”, linking them directly to the climate emergency. “It tells us that climate change is serious, it’s here,” Ramaphosa said as he visited the flooded eThekwini metropolitan area, which includes Durban. “We can no longer postpone what we need to do and the measures we need to take to tackle climate change.” The South African Meteorological Agency has warned of strong winds and heavy rains in KwaZulu-Natal and some other provinces over the Easter weekend. Containers were swept away and left in a pile by the floods in Durban. Photo: AP Meteorologists said the floods had taken them by surprise. Some areas of KwaZulu-Natal recorded almost average annual rainfall in 48 hours. “While the impact-based warnings were indeed issued in a timely manner, it appears that the extremely heavy rainfall even exceeded the expectations of the South African meteorological community in general,” the meteorological service said in a statement. The agency said that while it was impossible to attribute a single event to the climate crisis, “we can state with confidence that globally (as a direct result of global warming and climate change) all forms of extreme and extreme weather conditions are becoming more common. and more extreme than in the recent past. “In other words, heavy rainfall, such as the current incident, can be expected to recur in the future with increasing frequency.” The death toll is expected to rise as search and rescue operations continue in KwaZulu-Natal, officials said. “KwaZulu-Natal is going to be declared a disaster area so that we can do things quickly. “Bridges have collapsed, roads have collapsed, people have died and people have been injured,” Ramaphosa said. “I heard a storm”: aerial video shows the deadliest storm in South Africa ever recorded – video Along with the loss of life, the damage to infrastructure was extensive. The port of Durban, the busiest in South Africa, was hit hard. In one municipality, a Methodist church was swept away. A Hindu temple was severely damaged in Umhlatuzana, Chatsworth, near Durban, when a river burst its banks. Elsewhere, floods caused massive landslides. Many people were injured. Nokuthula Ntantiso’s house survived, but many others in the town of Umlazi did not. “It’s scary, because even last night I did not sleep because I was wondering if even that [home] “that I fall asleep can collapse at any time,” said the 31-year-old call center operator. Authorities tried to restore electricity to large parts of the province after heavy flooding at various power stations. NGOs worked for the distribution of clean water. Twelve crocodiles that disappeared from breeding ponds after heavy rains flooded a crocodile farm near Durban are reportedly being recaptured. Efforts to rescue the South African National Defense were delayed as the army’s air wing was affected by the floods, said General Rudzani Maphwanya. The army was able to deploy personnel and helicopters around the province on Wednesday, he said. The rain continued in areas of Durban on Wednesday afternoon and flood warning was issued in the neighboring province of Eastern Cape. Durban struggled to recover from a deadly riot last July that killed more than 350 people, the worst unrest in South Africa since the end of apartheid.
