I have lived here for 19 years and I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Jessica Babich, an environmental anthropologist who lives in the Waterberg Biosphere in Limpopo, speaking about the extreme rainfall and flooding that hit her community in mid-February.
“Attempts to get off our farm resulted in our car being stuck for five days… We carried groceries for over five kilometres on foot just to have something,” said Babich.
“We couldn’t get our son to school today because the road has been washed away. Community bridges have been destroyed. Everybody is affected. It is an absolute disaster zone.”
Like the Waterberg district, many other regions of South Africa have been battered by relentless rainfall and flooding since the start of the year.
While it’s too soon to attribute this to climate change, what has been proven is that climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has projected that extreme daily precipitation events will intensify by about 7% for each 1°C of global warming
The World Weather Attribution group concluded that human-induced climate change doubled the likelihood of extreme rainfall events such as the one that hit KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) in 2022. This means that an event of this magnitude is expected to occur about once every 20 years, whereas it would have occurred once every 40 years without global warming.
KwaZulu-Natal
KZN is experiencing one of its wettest summers in recent memory. However, making precise historical comparisons is difficult because of gaps in climate data caused by a cyberattack on the South African Weather Service (Saws).
Dr Andries Kruger, chief scientist of Climate Services at Saws, said: “From news reports, it seems that recently KZN has received a lot of rainfall along the coast, which makes it probable that this is one of the wetter seasons experienced in the recent past. However, a season must be assessed over the complete summer rainfall period before any firm conclusions can be made.”
Kruger said urbanisation exacerbated flood risks. “Impacts are worsened by increased urbanisation, the removal of indigenous vegetation, and inadequate drainage in some places in the Greater eThekwini metropole,” he said.
Dr Christien Engelbrecht, the lead scientist for long-range predictions at Saws, warned that above-normal rainfall was expected for the remainder of the summer season in KZN.
“Geographically speaking, the southern coastal region of KwaZulu-Natal is where cut-off lows can typically trigger high-impact rainfall events. With above-normal rainfall predicted, these areas are at higher risk,” she said.
The wet summer is far from over. On Friday, 14 March, Saws issued severe weather alerts for multiple regions. A Yellow Level 4 warning was issued for disruptive rainfall along the KZN coast, with flooding expected to damage roads and settlements and trigger mudslides. Severe thunderstorms were forecast for parts of North West, Northern Cape and Free State, while damaging winds and storm surges were anticipated along the Eastern Cape coast.
The human toll has been devastating, particularly in KZN. As of 12 March, the recent flooding and mudslides had claimed 12 lives in eThekwini, one person remained missing and more than 265 homes had been declared unsafe. In Lamontville, people were swept away as they tried to flee rising waters; those who made it out were relocated to shelters in Durban’s CBD.
The floods have disrupted food supply chains and agricultural production, and damaged essential infrastructure like roads and clinics.
Jotham Khumalo, a manager at eThekwini’s Disaster Management Unit, estimated repair costs at R1 billion.
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Waterberg District
Limpopo’s Waterberg District, home to a Unesco biosphere reserve, has faced extreme climate shifts in recent months — severe drought and wildfires in October and November followed by heavy flooding from mid-January.
“We moved from fire to drought to flood within three months,” said Babich. Tens of thousands of hectares were destroyed by wildfires fuelled by dry vegetation and strong winds.
Like many rural communities across South Africa, heavy rain left villages and farms isolated, cutting people off from schools, workplaces and essential supplies.
“Entire villages couldn’t access the outside world; they were literally cut off from clinics, schools — everything,” said Babich. “It wasn’t just damaged infrastructure; it was infrastructure completely taken away.”
Even when it wasn’t raining in a particular village, it would be inundated with floodwater from upstream. The Waterberg, a key catchment for the Limpopo River, is especially vulnerable to cascading flood effects.
The floods destroyed crops, affecting food security.
“The food gardens that fed over 3 000 children were destroyed — seedlings drowned in waterlogged soil, crops rotted,” said Babich.
The gardens, part of a collaborative initiative with Waterberg Rhino UK and the Waterberg Biosphere Reserve, support 19 schools and three community cooperatives by teaching children sustainable farming practices.
“Mother Nature is fed up — she’s fighting back now. We have to increase understanding of how we treat our planet,” said Babich, emphasising the need for collective action. “It’s like a potjie pot — you need three legs: community, government and private entities working together.”
Babich highlighted how communities in Waterberg united to rebuild access routes and support each other.
“The citizens of the Waterberg are phenomenal — friends, neighbours, everyone came together in extraordinary ways,” she said. Neighbours helped clear paths, provided supplies and even used bush pilots to take stranded children back home from school.
“Despite everything washing away — the roads, access points — the community rebuilt at least one narrow track so people could get supplies or reach town,” she said.
Babich stressed the need for greater awareness about the impacts of climate change and called for community-based activism.
“People are part of the problem — but they’re also part of the solution,” she reflected.
Martin Booysen, from the Vaalwater District Agricultural Union, said the agricultural sector — the area’s largest employer — had been hit hard. Heavy rainfall had caused significant infrastructure damage and the loss of valuable topsoil.
“Produce cannot reach markets due to failing bridges and roads,” he said. “The local government needs to repair and maintain roads — maintenance is currently non-existent.”
Damaged roads and flooded bridges in the Waterberg District made it impossible for many children — most of whom walk to school — to attend classes for days.
Noko Matlala, garden and facilities coordinator at Leubaneng Primary School, said 70% of the school’s 600 pupils walked 5km to school each day. “When it rains, it becomes difficult and even dangerous for learners to get to school,” he said.
In addition, the classrooms don’t have ceilings, “only a corrugated iron roof, and when there’s heavy rainfall — like we experienced in February — it’s so loud you can’t teach.”
The school’s vegetable garden, a vital source of food and learning for the community, was washed away before planting could begin this year.
Poor planning
Cathy Sutherland, a professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal specialising in climate adaptation strategies, highlighted systemic vulnerabilities in the region.
“Settlements located on floodplains or wetlands are particularly at risk due to poor planning and lack of infrastructure,” she said. She noted that institutional policies guiding safe planning were often absent or poorly enforced in these vulnerable areas.
She stressed the importance of inclusive planning. “We need to build an evidence base using diverse forms of knowledge — scientific research alongside indigenous knowledge — to understand how we can prepare for and respond better.”
She said projects like Care Inacct and Shefs-SA were fostering collaboration between scientists, policymakers and residents to develop community-based flood early warning systems and green infrastructure initiatives.
Saws’ Engelbrecht said: “Climate adaptation strategies should include the means to evacuate people to safer areas before dangerous conditions occur while enhancing ecological infrastructure such as wetlands restoration.”
- This article was first published by Daily Maverick and written by Julia Evans.
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