Update: More deaths expected as South African flood claims 101

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Authorities said last week that 101 people had died but this number is likely to increase as South Africa counts its woos.

The victims, which include 38 children with youngest fatality as an infant about 12 months old, have seven bodies unidentified.

The OR Tambo and Amathole districts were said to be hardest hit areas.

“This moment will be recorded among the most agonising chapters in our province’s history”, Eastern Cape provincial government official Zolile Williams said in a statement.

“While we have borne witness to tragedies that claimed the lives of our people before, this one resonates on a profoundly deeper level, it wounds the very foundation of our hearts.”

The Eastern Cape provincial government extended its condolences to the victims’ families.

Extreme weather hit the province between June 9 and 10. Heavy rain caused by a cold front turned into floods that swept away victims and their houses, trapped others in their homes, strongly damaged infrastructure and cut electricity supplies.

Electricity has been restored to over 80% of affected customers and more than 95% of the water supply having been restored in the OR Tambo and Amathole Districts, according to Williams.

Local authorities said an estimated R5.1 billion (about $290 million) would be needed to repair damaged infrastructure.

South Africa has declared a state of national disaster, allowing the government to release funding for relief services.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the worst affected sites on 13 June and blamed the heavy rains and catastrophic floods on climate change.

Climatic phenomena, such as the El Niño phase, caused “a series of extreme weather events” on the African continent last year, the World Meteorological Organization found in its 2024 State of the Climate in Africa report.

Another cold front hit South Africa’s Western Cape province last week, bringing days of rain and causing flooding in and around the city of Cape Town.

About The Author

Dele Fashomi

Dele Fashomi, seasoned journalist and communication teacher, is a holder of Master of Arts degree in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan in 1992/93.

Earlier, he had bagged a Bachelor degree from the same university in 1984, after which he proceeded to the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos, in 1990, for a postgraduate diploma in Journalism.

He had done many courses in communication, including the EU-BBC Editing Course in 2002.

Mr. Fashomi combines effectively the practice, research and teaching of communication. And to date, he has published two academic works in communication: Issues in Communication Technology and Policy (2010) and Economic and Social Issues in Advertising and PR (2013).

He had his first break in the Nigerian media in Concord Newspapers in 1990 and today, he has over two and half decades experience earned in several newspapers.

He has been part of many start-ups, such as The Republic (1987), The Comet (1999), The Anchor 2001 – 2002; Sun Newspapers (2003); Westerner newsmagazine (2005 – 2010) as Editor; National Life (2011) as Sunday Editor, and Newswatch Newspapers (2012- 2016) as Daily Editor.

Dele Fashomi is now the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Newstide247.com newspaper online, which he started in July 2015. He is also into biography writing, with many books in his trail, some of which he wrote alone and one he co- authored with his mentor, Mr Dare Babarinsa, entitled: Olabiyi Durojaiye – DARE TO BE DiFFERENT. He also guided and collaborated with Pa Olatunji Odusanya in writing his autobiography – AGAINST ALL ODDS. There are many other books in the works under his pen.

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