South African President Cyril Ramaphosa pledged on Wednesday to help victims of devastating floods on the country’s east coast, as the death toll rose to 259 as heavy rains washed away roads and disrupted shipping in one of Africa’s busiest ports.
Ramaphosa visited families who lost loved ones in KwaZulu-Natal province, including a family with four children, after floods and landslides devastated their homes on Tuesday.
Africa’s southeastern coast is on the front lines of maritime weather disasters that scientists believe are a consequence of global warming — and predict will get much worse in the coming decades.
“You are not alone… We will do everything in our power to see how we can help,” said the South African president. “Even if your hearts are aching, we are here for you.”
Nonala Ndlovu, chief director of KwaZulu-Natal’s Cooperative Governance Department, told Reuters news agency late on Wednesday that the death toll had not been updated beyond the 259 reported earlier in the day.
South Africa’s northern neighbor Mozambique has suffered a series of devastating floods over the past decade, including one last month that killed more than 50 people.
“You’re fighting one of the biggest incidents we’ve ever seen and we think this only happens in other countries like Mozambique or Zimbabwe,” Ramaphosa told victims.
Meli Sokela, a victim who lost her son in the flood, told Reuters that when the area was flooded on Monday night, he could hear sounds like a storm hitting the roof of his home and, immediately afterwards, the walls of his house. house collapsed.
“My neighbors tried to help me, it took two hours. After two hours I survived, but unfortunately my son didn’t,” he said.
Climate changes
An Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report in February warned that humanity was far from ready for climate change, which is already built into the system by decades of fossil fuel burning and deforestation. The body urged the world to increase investments in adaptation.
“None of this is surprising, but it is absolutely devastating. Can you imagine the cost to people’s lives? The roads, the ports… it’s huge,” said Melissa Fourie, commissioner of the Ramaphosa Presidential Climate Commission and head of the Center for Environmental Rights.
“In South Africa, we are still talking about the fossil fuel transition as if it is optional. We have to stop burning them. And we have to start preparing for the climate change that we already have.”
South African pulp and paper maker Sappi SAPJ.J said the floods had prevented employees from traveling to work and transport of goods had been disrupted, affecting three factories.
South Africa’s biggest logistics and freight operator, Transnet, which manages the port of Durban, gradually resumed operations on Wednesday after suspending them on Tuesday, the Ministry of Public Enterprises said.
Low-cost clothing retailer Pepkor PPHJ.J closed its distribution center in Durban after sustaining damage.
Source: CNN Brasil
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