CNN
–
Heavy rain and flood It hit South Africa’s east coast on Wednesday, killing at least 259 people, damaging roads and destroying homes.
The provincial government said in a tweet on Twitter that the tragedy represented “one of the darkest moments in the history” of KwaZulu-Natal province.
“We join families in mourning the lives we lost as a result of the torrential rains,” the government wrote. “We would like to commend the disaster management teams for the tireless work they are doing to evacuate the affected communities.”
The Floods hit KwaZulu-Natalwhich includes the coastal city of Durban. Pictures from the news agency showed that roads cracked and gave way to deep fissures and a huge pile of shipping containers collapsed in the muddy waters.
A bridge near Durban was swept away, leaving people stranded on either side.
Pictures and colon Deadly floods wreak havoc in South Africa
Rogan Ward/Reuters
A woman stands at her door after torrential rains caused flood damage in Durban, South Africa, on Tuesday, April 12.
Pictures and colon Deadly floods wreak havoc in South Africa
Phil Majakoy/AFP/Getty Images
People mourned a church in Claremont, a town in Durban, after four children died after heavy rain and flooding. Melli Sukhila, center, lost four children when the church on his house collapsed.
Pictures and colon Deadly floods wreak havoc in South Africa
Phil Majakoy/AFP/Getty Images
A man in Clermont rescues the remains of what was once part of the United Methodist Church in South Africa.
Pictures and colon Deadly floods wreak havoc in South Africa
Phil Majakoy/AFP/Getty Images
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, center, visits Clermont on Wednesday, April 13th. He spoke to many grieving people at the United Methodist Church of South Africa.
Pictures and colon Deadly floods wreak havoc in South Africa
Phil Majakoy/AFP/Getty Images
People work outside the affected church in Claremont.
Pictures and colon Deadly floods wreak havoc in South Africa
Rogan Ward/Reuters
Sukhila responds during Ramaphosa’s visit on April 13.
Pictures and colon Deadly floods wreak havoc in South Africa
Rogan Ward/Reuters
Children sit on a part of the damaged church while visiting Ramaphosa.
Pictures and colon Deadly floods wreak havoc in South Africa
Str / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
A road near Durban was destroyed on 13 April.
Pictures and colon Deadly floods wreak havoc in South Africa
Phil Majakoy/AFP/Getty Images
A municipal worker uses a saw to cut branches of a tree that fell on a car in Bentown, South Africa, on Tuesday, April 12.
Pictures and colon Deadly floods wreak havoc in South Africa
Rajesh Gantelal/AFP/Getty Images
Waves hit a damaged fuel tanker at the Blue Lagoon beach in Durban on April 12.
Pictures and colon Deadly floods wreak havoc in South Africa
Rajesh Gantelal/AFP/Getty Images
Members of the ethekwini Fire Department search in a metro for a person believed to be trapped after a mudslide caused a house to collapse in Durban on April 12.
Pictures and colon Deadly floods wreak havoc in South Africa
Rogan Ward/Reuters
Shipping containers were washed in Durban on April 12.
Pictures and colon Deadly floods wreak havoc in South Africa
Belt
People walk across a makeshift bridge after a bridge was swept away in Ntozuma, South Africa, on April 12.
Pictures and colon Deadly floods wreak havoc in South Africa
Rogan Ward/Reuters
Gompa Ferry walks to where his house was located in Durban.
Pictures and colon Deadly floods wreak havoc in South Africa
Rogan Ward/Reuters
People begin to clean up damages in Durban on April 12th.
Pictures and colon Deadly floods wreak havoc in South Africa
Rajesh Gantelal/AFP/Getty Images
A volunteer hands two loaves of bread to a man in Durban on April 12.
Pictures and colon Deadly floods wreak havoc in South Africa
Rogan Ward/Reuters
Part of the N2 motorway in Durban was flooded on April 12.
Pictures and colon Deadly floods wreak havoc in South Africa
Phil Majakoy/AFP/Getty Images
A rescue worker walks with a man being helped from a flooded workplace near Umlazi, South Africa, on April 12.
Pictures and colon Deadly floods wreak havoc in South Africa
Str / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
A river runs around a damaged bridge on April 12 after heavy rain destroyed it near Durban.
The city of KwaZulu-Natal has experienced torrential rain since Monday in what the provincial government described as “one of the worst weather storms in our country’s history” in Statement posted on Facebook.
She added, “The heavy rain that fell on our land during the past few days has caused untold destruction and caused severe damage to lives and infrastructure.”
The county government later said it was continuing to work with the national government to ensure relief was provided to all those affected.
Sifu Hlumuka, a member of the Executive Board for Collaborative Governance and Traditional Affairs in KwaZulu-Natal, said on Twitter on Tuesday that teams worked to evacuate people in areas that experienced “mudslides, floods and structural collapses of buildings and roads”.
“Heavy rains affected power lines in many municipalities, with technical teams working around the clock to restore electricity,” Hlomoka added.
The flooded power stations are inaccessible in the hard-hit I Thekwini municipality, Mayor Mxulisi Kaunda told reporters, while water pipes were also damaged.
He said the local government had asked private and religious institutions to assist in emergency relief operations, and had asked for help from the South African National Defense Forces to provide air support.
The extreme weather comes just months after torrential rain and flooding hit other parts of South Africa, with three tropical cyclones and two tropical storms over the course of just six weeks from late January. 230 deaths were reported and 1 million people affected.
Scientists from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) project — which analyzes the extent to which the climate crisis contributes to an extreme weather event — found that climate change made those events more likely.
“Once again we see how the people least responsible for climate change bear the brunt of the impacts,” WWA’s Frederic Otto, of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London, said Tuesday, referring to previous storms in South Africa.
“Rich countries must honor their commitments and increase much-needed funding for adaptation and to compensate victims of extreme events driven by climate change with compensation for losses and damages,” she added.
This is expected to be a major sticking point in the upcoming international climate negotiations, the COP27 conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, in November.
Scientists have warned that the world should try to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures, some 200 years ago, to stave off some of the irreversible effects of climate change. Earth is already about 1.2 degrees warmer.
In Southeast Africa, a two degree warming is expected to lead to an increase in Frequency and intensity of rain and floodand an increase in the intensity of strong tropical cyclones associated with heavy precipitation.
“Internet practitioner. Social media maven. Certified zombieaholic. Lifelong communicator.”