Floods devastate Southern Africa, over 100 dead

Army helicopters rescued people stranded on rooftops and hundreds of tourists and workers were evacuated from one of the world’s biggest game reserves, as torrential rains and flooding in three countries in southern Africa killed more than 100 people, authorities said Friday. The death toll across South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe is an accumulation after weeks of heavy rains. Weather services issued warnings that more rain was on the way, possibly bringing more destructive flooding.

Mozambique was the hardest hit, with flooding across swathes of the country’s central and southern provinces. Its Institute for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction said 103 people had died in an unusually severe rainy season since late last year, though that count included deaths from various causes including electrocution from lightning strikes, drowning in floods, infrastructure collapse caused by the severe weather and cholera, the institute said.

More than 200,000 people have been affected in Mozambique, thousands of homes have been damaged and tens of thousands face evacuation, the World Food Program said of another crisis in a poor country with limited resources that has faced several damaging cyclones in the last few years. In neighbouring South Africa, officials said Friday the death toll from floods in two northern provinces had risen to at least 30, with rescue efforts ongoing.

Zimbabwe’s disaster management agency said that 70 people have died and more than 1,000 homes have been destroyed in heavy rains since the beginning of the year, while infrastructure including schools, roads and bridges collapsed. Flooding has also hit the island nation of Madagascar as well as Malawi and Zambia. The United States’ Famine Early Warning System said flooding was reported or expected in at least seven southern African nations, possibly due to the presence of the La Nina weather phenomenon that can bring heavy rains to parts of southeastern Africa.

The South African army was using helicopters to pluck people to safety as they took refuge on rooftops or in trees in the northern Limpopo province. The army also had to rescue police officers and border control officers from a checkpoint on the South Africa-Zimbabwe border, it said. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visited flood-stricken areas in Limpopo on Thursday and said that region had received around 400 millimeters (more than 15 inches) of rain in less than a week.

He said that in one district he visited “there are 36 houses that have just been wiped away from the face of the Earth.” Limpopo Premier Phophi Ramathuba said more than 1,000 houses were damaged across the province, with many of them washed away entirely. “It’s so terrible,” she said. There was also extensive damage in Mpumalanga province, where roads and bridges were damaged or destroyed.

In the Nkomazi Municipality near the border with Mozambique, residents were trying to repair the damage in their flooded homes and yards — and bracing for more extreme weather after the South African Weather Service issued a red-level 10 alert for more destructive rains and floods for that part of the country, the highest warning level.

“I am still terrified that the rains will return as these were the worst rains I have seen in this area,” said Nkomazi resident Josephina Mashaba. South Africa’s renowned Kruger National Park, which covers some 22,000 square kilometers (7,722 square miles) across Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, has been affected by severe flooding. Around 600 tourists and staff members have been evacuated from camps to high-lying areas in the park, park spokesperson Reynold Thakhuli said.

He couldn’t immediately say how many people there were in the park, which has been closed to new visitors after several rivers burst their banks and flooded camps, restaurants and other areas. The national parks agency said precautions were being taken and no deaths or injuries had been reported at Kruger, but parts of the park were completely cut off by the floods.

Southern Africa has experienced a series of extreme weather events in recent years, including devastating cyclones that killed thousands across several countries and a scorching drought that caused a food crisis in parts of a region that often suffers food shortages. The World Food Program said more than 70,000 hectares (about 173,000 acres) of crops in Mozambique, including staples such as rice and corn, have been waterlogged in the current flooding, worsening food insecurity for thousands of small-scale farmers who rely on their harvests for food.