South Africa: Homes Destroyed, People Misssing After Floods in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal Province

Harare — Emergency personnel are working through the night due to flash floods brought on by torrential rains in KwaZulu-Natal, which left a path of devastation in certain areas of northern Durban and the north coast, IOL reports.

Four people were listed as missing by Sunday, January 14, in the morning, according to an emergency services unit that reacted to 157 calls for assistance, the majority of which came from the northern Durban regions of Verulam, Phoenix, and Tongaat. Speaking on the devastation, Samantha Meyrick, an IPSS Medical Search and Rescue representative, said that they were looking for four people who had been reported missing.

Over 40 people died in the province in December and January as a result of bad weather, according to the KZN Provincial Disaster Management Centre.

For African countries, 2023 was a time of deadly floods, severe droughts and wildfires which left little doubt that the earth’s climate is changing. The World Health Organization warned that climate change is now the single biggest health threat facing humanity, but scientists agreed that the worst impacts can be avoided with coordinated and rapid climate action. Proposed goals include an end date to the use of coal, making new cars zero-emissions within 20 years and ending deforestation by the end of the 2020s.

Climate change is also the single biggest health threat facing humanity, and health professionals worldwide are already responding to the health harms caused by this unfolding crisis, according to the WHO. It is already impacting health in a myriad of ways, with the rise in extreme climatic events inducing population displacement resulting in a greater number of vulnerable and risk populations of tuberculosis. It creates a conducive environment of tuberculosis transmission and development of active tuberculosis and disrupts tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment services.

By Jerry Chifamba