South Africa has experienced high levels of rainfall across northern parts of the country over the past few weeks. At least 22 people have been killed in KwaZulu-Natal, a province on the eastern coast, which is still trying to recover from devastating floods there in 2022.

Emergency and disaster units are still surveying the damage that has occurred in the past few weeks, but the Red Cross says almost 3,000 households have been affected, 700 homes destroyed and 5,000 people have been displaced.

“Two weeks after the rain and people in informal settlements are still wading knee-deep in water,” says Catherine Smith, General Manager of City Hope Disaster Relief.

In neighbouring Botswana, six months’ worth of rain fell in just 24 hours two weeks ago, taking the land-locked and arid country by surprise. They usually prepare for drought, The Continent reported.

Meterological experts there said the unusually heavy rainfall was due to Cyclone Dikeledi, which swept in from the Indian Ocean – some 800km away.

Cyclones, tropical storms and the challenges of poverty

Cyclones such as this are a regular occurrence between December and March, but they are becoming more frequent as the world’s climate changes and sea temperatures rise.

According to a report by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, cyclones and heavy storms will increasingly threaten Africa. “As oceans have warmed, Africa has experienced four times as many storms and more than a doubling in the number of cyclones since the 1970s,” the report reads.

“With warmer ocean temperatures and more energy driving each storm, tropical cyclones from the Indian Ocean are also making landfall over a wider swath of Africa’s east coast. Beyond historical paths affecting Madagascar and rural northern Mozambique, the cyclones are expected to push into latitudes farther north (encompassing Tanzania) and south (including South Africa).”

Millions of people stand to be affected.

“In developing countries, poverty and poor living conditions exacerbate the effects of natural disasters, which also expose municipal failures such as the lack of maintenance of roads and drains,” says ForAfrika’s Emergency Response Director, Charles Wentzel.

“Historically there have always been floods, but their impact tends to grow with the population. Communities are facing increased exposure to climate risks. Governments struggle to cater for everyone and people are forced to live in areas or in homes that cannot withstand extreme weather events,” he says.

Emergency preparedness

“It is critical to help people prepare for disasters; households need training on how to deal with heavy rainfall and flooding – and drought. The best people to mobilise are those affected, which is why we are working on proposals to train emergency preparedness volunteers,” says Wentzel.

“We need funding for that.”

ForAfrika is also part of a national collaboration of organisations in South Africa wanting to work together to respond to the range of crises that regularly unfold.

In the meantime, more rain is expected in the coming week.

ForAfrika is prepared and working with partners and other organisations, such as City Hope Disaster Relief, to respond to the families affected.

“We have provisioned tarpaulins, blankets, food and other items,” says Wentzel, adding that civil society and corporates are incredibly supportive of his team’s efforts.

Ivan Krishna, Community Development Officer for KwaZulu-Natal says: “While emergency relief measures are designed to bring temporary relief, there is a real need for longer-term sustainability. ForAfrika recommends projects which will benefit the community even after the effects of the disaster, such as nutritional feeding at Early Childhood Development centres, community emergency training, establishing food gardens and improvement projects to rebuild stronger homes and pre-schools.”