| Date | 8 February–March; 24–25 September 2023; 30 December 2023 |
|---|---|
| Location | South Africa |
| Deaths | 39 (at least) |
| Property damage | US$240 million [1] |
There were floods in South Africa in February and March, then again in September and again in December 2023.
Floods hit South Africa in February–March 2023, caused by heavy rainfall as a result of the La Niña weather phenomenon, affecting seven provinces, including Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, and North West. [2] The floods have caused casualties, fatalities and damage to homes, businesses, basic infrastructure, roads, bridges and affected crops and livestock.
At least twelve people were killed across the provinces and others were stated to be missing. [3] In addition to that, two more fatalities were reported in King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality (Eastern Cape Province), [4] and one person in Komani Town (formerly Queenstown). [5] Several people were evacuated in Lekwa Local Municipality [6] and residents in the area of Vaal, Vanderkloof, and Bloemhof dams along the Orange River (Northern Cape Province) were invited to evacuate after controlled water discharge operate by local authorities. [7] In Mpumalanga province, about 300 families have been evacuated. [8]
The South African Weather Service predicted "persistent and heavy" rains ahead, with the risk of further flooding due to "waterlogged soils and saturated rivers". [9]
In response to the floods, President Cyril Ramaphosa declared on February 13 the State of National Disaster in seven provinces. [10]
On 23 March, heavy rainfall caused flash flooding in parts of the Eastern Cape. The worst affected municipalities were Ingquza Hill, King Sabata Dalindyebo, and Port St Johns. Local authorities reported at least three people died and one was reported missing. [11] The flooding caused collapsed bridges, limiting movement in the flood-hit Port St Johns area. [12]
The cost of the damage was estimated to be around R4.5 billion in Eastern Cape [13] and R337 million in Mpumalanga. [14] [15]
Further floods hit Western Cape in September 2023.
On 30 December, Flash flooding killed 21 people in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. [16]
South Africa occupies the southern tip of Africa, its coastline stretching more than 2,850 kilometres from the desert border with Namibia on the Atlantic (western) coast southwards around the tip of Africa and then northeast to the border with Mozambique on the Indian (eastern) coast. The low-lying coastal zone is narrow for much of that distance, soon giving way to a mountainous escarpment that separates the coast from the high inland plateau. In some places, notably the province of KwaZulu-Natal in the east, a greater distance separates the coast from the escarpment. Although much of the country is classified as semi-arid, it has considerable variation in climate as well as topography. The total land area is 1,220,813 km2 (471,359 sq mi). It has the 23rd largest Exclusive Economic Zone of 1,535,538 km2 (592,875 sq mi).
The Vaal River is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The river has its source near Breyten in Mpumalanga province, east of Johannesburg and about 30 kilometres (19 mi) north of Ermelo and only about 240 kilometres (150 mi) from the Indian Ocean. It then flows westwards to its confluence with the Orange River southwest of Kimberley in the Northern Cape. It is 1,458 kilometres (906 mi) long, and forms the border between Mpumalanga, Gauteng and North West Province on its north bank, and the Free State on its south.
The Drakensberg is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, which encloses the central Southern African plateau. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest elevation – 2,000 to 3,482 metres within the border region of South Africa and Lesotho.
The Province of the Transvaal, commonly referred to as the Transvaal, was a province of South Africa from 1910 until 1994, when a new constitution subdivided it following the end of apartheid. The name "Transvaal" refers to the province's geographical location to the north of the Vaal River. Its capital was Pretoria, which was also the country's executive capital.
The Thembu are Xhosa people who were living in the Thembu Kingdom.
Kniphofia is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Asphodelaceae, first described as a genus in 1794. All species of Kniphofia are native to Africa. Common names include tritoma, red hot poker, torch lily and poker plant.
The Highveld is the portion of the South African inland plateau which has an altitude above roughly 1500 m, but below 2100 m, thus excluding the Lesotho mountain regions to the south-east of the Highveld. It is home to some of the country's most important commercial farming areas, as well as its largest concentration of metropolitan centres, especially the Gauteng conurbation, which accommodates one-third of South Africa's population.
The Kwazulu-Cape coastal forest mosaic is a subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of South Africa. It covers an area of 17,800 square kilometers (6,900 sq mi) in South Africa's Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.
The SAFA Second Division (known as the ABC Motsepe League for sponsorship reasons, and previously the Vodacom League between 1998 and 2012, was founded in 1998 as the overall third tier of South African football. The competition is regulated by SAFA, and until 2012 had been sponsored by mobile telecommunications company Vodacom.
The rough-haired golden mole is a species of mammal that live mostly below ground. They have shiny coats of dense fur and a streamlined, formless appearance. They have no visible eyes or ears; in fact, they are blind - the small eyes are covered with hairy skin. The ears are small and are hidden in the animal's fur.
Provincial heritage sites in South Africa are places that are of historic or cultural importance within the context of the province concerned and which are for this reason declared in terms of Section 28 of the National Heritage Resources Act (NHRA) or legislation of the applicable province. The designation was a new one that came into effect with the introduction of the Act on 1 April 2000 when all former national monuments declared by the former National Monuments Council and its predecessors became provincial heritage sites as provided for in Section 58 of the Act.
The Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution of South Africa altered the boundaries of seven of South Africa's nine provinces. It also redefined all of the provinces' geographical areas in terms of the areas of district and metropolitan municipalities, and repealed the provisions introduced by the Third Amendment that allowed municipal areas to cross provincial boundaries. A number of the boundary changes were highly controversial and led to popular protest and court challenges.
There have been many political assassinations in post-apartheid South Africa. In 2013 it was reported that there had been more than 450 political assassinations in the province of KwaZulu-Natal since the end of apartheid in 1994. In July 2013 the Daily Maverick reported that there had been "59 political murders in the last five years". In August 2016 it was reported that there had been at least twenty political assassinations in the run up to the local government elections on the 3rd of August that year, most of them in KwaZulu-Natal.
A provincial heritage resources authority (PHRA) is a government agency established at provincial level in South Africa and is responsible for the management of immovable heritage. In some instances, they are also responsible for moveable heritage, interpretation centres and museums.
The 2019–20 CSA Provincial T20 Cup was a domestic Twenty cricket tournament that took place in South Africa in September 2019, as a curtain-raiser to the 2019–20 South African domestic season. It was played between the thirteen South African provincial teams, along with Limpopo and Mpumalanga. This was the sixth edition of the CSA Provincial T20 Cup, which was last played in the 2015–16 season. With only domestic teams from South Africa taking part, the tournament returned in place of the Africa T20 Cup, which had been held since 2015.
Tropical Cyclone Eloise was the strongest tropical cyclone to impact the country of Mozambique since Cyclone Kenneth in 2019 and the second of three consecutive tropical cyclones to impact Mozambique in the 2020–21 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season. The seventh tropical depression, fifth named storm and the second tropical cyclone of the season, Eloise's origins can be traced to a disturbance over the central portion of the South-West Indian Ocean basin which developed into a tropical depression on 16 January, and strengthened into a tropical storm on 17 January, though the storm had limited strength and organization. On the next day, the storm entered a more favorable environment, and it soon intensified to a severe tropical storm on 18 January. Late on 19 January, Eloise made landfall in northern Madagascar as a moderate tropical storm, bringing with it heavy rainfall and flooding. The storm traversed Madagascar and entered the Mozambique Channel in the early hours of 21 January. After moving southwestward across the Mozambique Channel for an additional 2 days, Eloise strengthened into a Category 1-equivalent cyclone, due to low wind shear and high sea surface temperatures. Early on 23 January, Eloise peaked as a Category 2-equivalent tropical cyclone on the Saffir–Simpson scale as the center of the storm began to move ashore in Mozambique. Shortly afterward, Eloise made landfall just north of Beira, Mozambique, before rapidly weakening. Subsequently, Eloise weakened into a remnant low over land on 25 January, dissipating soon afterward.
Throughout 2022, floods affected most of Africa, killing over 2,100 people. The worst affected country was Nigeria, with over 610 deaths.
In April 2022, days of heavy rain across KwaZulu-Natal in southeastern South Africa led to deadly floods. Particularly hard-hit were areas in and around Durban. At least 435 people died across the province, with an unknown number of people missing as of April 22. Several thousand homes were damaged or destroyed. Critical infrastructure, including major roads, transportation, communication, and electrical systems, were also impacted by the flooding, and this damage greatly hampered recovery and relief efforts. It is one of the deadliest disasters in the country in the 21st century, and the deadliest storm since the 1987 floods. The floods have caused more than R17 billion in infrastructure damage. A national state of disaster was declared.
The 2022–23 CSA 4-Day Series was a first-class cricket competition taking place in South Africa from October 2022 to March 2023. It was the second edition of the post-franchise era and retained the two-division league format introduced the previous year, with the teams in each division unchanged.
Events in the year 2023 in South Africa.