KwaZulu-Natal will not be the same after the floods

The environment of KwaZulu-Natal will never be the same after the devastating floods that occurred from 11 to 13 April. Mass erosion took place and topsoil has been washed away.

The floods were caused by a cut-off low system which caused major rainfall in a very short time, leading to the floods that wreaked havoc primarily in Durban and surrounding areas.

According to an article by the Mail and Guardian, Durban experienced 351 mm of rain in a period of two days. This high rainfall led to the floods.

According to Dewald van Niekerk, North-West University (NWU) professor in geography and the head of the African Centre for Disaster Studies (ACDS), the KwaZulu-Natal floods have impacted the environment drastically.

Van Niekerk said that the pictures shown on television and on social media “speak a thousand words”, and it is evident that massive erosion took place in areas. Van Niekerk said that topsoil, which is high in organic matter, has been washed away by the water, and riverbanks have overflown. He stated that South Africa will recover faster financially than environmentally.

Professor Roelof Burger, chair of the sub-programme of climate change, air quality and impacts at the NWU, said “this was a very special event where the conditions were just right to cause extreme rainfall”. He said the main cause of the floods was a cut-off low system.

Students at NWU talk about the floods in KZN. VIDEO: Chanté du Plessis

According to Burger, a cut-off low system is a common system that forms in the southern areas of South Africa and occurs annually in April. “It is a wavelike feature that moves from west to east over the tip of the continent and then strengthens to form an intense low-pressure system in the upper levels of the atmosphere,” said Burger.

Although these systems occur regularly, this year the shocking amount of rainfall led to the flooding of areas. He said, “it is most probable that the environment will not return to its previous state.”

Van Niekerk indicated that urbanisation will now be an issue since proper planning of safety zones and the enforcement of building codes have not been done in KwaZulu-Natal. “People cannot go back and rebuild in these areas,” he said. He indicated that there needs to be a reassessment of where affected people can relocate to.

An article by Eyewitness News indicated that approximately 450 South African people died in the floods, and an article by The Guardian said that about 41 000 people were affected after losing their homes.

With the arrival of the catastrophic floods, some media outlets reported that the severity of the floods were caused by climate change.

“The conditions that lead to extreme events [like the KwaZulu-Natal floods] have always been there, but climate change leads to an atmosphere where these conditions are a bit more favourable,” said Burger. He further said that these drastic events will be more likely and frequent in the future. The whole world needs to work together to take action against the climate crisis, according to Burger, so they can lessen the damage the environment faces in events that ought to be natural.

“These weather patterns occur because of a global problem,” Van Niekerk said and agreed with Burger by stating that the ‘global systemic problem’ of climate change can only be fought when the entire population decides to work together.

Van Niekerk explained that climate change is not the only cause of the KwaZulu-Natal floods, but that it did contribute to its aggravation. “Research shows that climate change is worsening a lot of natural hazards, like floods and wildfires,” he said.

The climate crisis played a role in intensifying the impact of the cut-off low system that occurs regularly in the southern parts of the South African coast. Van Niekerk said that at the coastal areas themselves “there’s a huge clean-up” that needs to happen.

NWU Alumni, Stacey Swanepoel (22), a resident of the Bluff area in Durban, was one of the many people who were negatively affected.

Swanepoel said that the community of KwaZulu-Natal came together to help the affected areas. She said that although she and her family were some of the lucky Durbanites who were only affected by water and electricity outages during and after the floods, it was shocking to look at the news and think “that could have been us.”