Parts of southern Africa are surprised by heavy rainfall. More than 100 people have already died in the floods. A German reality show also has to adapt to masses of water.
Johannesburg – water, water – nothing but water. “It’s been raining here for weeks, we’ve never experienced anything like it here before,” says Margit Babenhauserheide, who comes from Lower Bavaria.
Since 2012 she has been living with her husband about 60 kilometers from South Africa’s Kruger National Park, where the RTL jungle camp has just pitched its tents. The world-famous animal paradise may not have signaled “land under” yet, but it is also surprised by the power of the rainfall. Gone are the days when Africa’s southern tip made headlines because of a persistent drought: It is currently in the grip of an extreme weather situation that brings with it a disproportionate amount of moisture in a very short time.
Dams filled to bursting
In the South African town of Ladysmith, for example, rescue workers waded through chest-high floodwaters this week while others took residents to safety in inflatable boats. Many dams in the Cape State are full to bursting and can hardly hold the water masses. “We had to open several locks,” says Charles Mokone, who is the manager responsible for the Vaal Dam. It mainly supplies the industrial center around Johannesburg with water. While in the background the water masses roar into the depths, Mokone announces in front of the camera that more locks will open if the rain continues. The residents – for example in the also flooded town of Bloemhof – are watching with unease.
The situation is similar in neighboring Lesotho: rivers burst their banks, bridges were torn down, houses were flooded and infrastructure destroyed. On the island of Madagascar, off Africa’s east coast, precipitation of more than 100 millimeters within 24 hours was forecast for this Thursday. They should last until at least Sunday, warned the weather service, which does not rule out landslides, especially in the north-west. In the capital Antananarivo alone, 18 emergency shelters have been set up for almost 8,500 homeless people. Nevertheless, there were bottlenecks, partly because of the corona distance rules in the island state.
Partially no school lessons
In addition, school classes in Madagascar, which were already badly slowed down by the various corona restrictions, but also in South Africa’s affected parts of the country, have been temporarily stopped due to the rain. The prolonged extreme weather in southern Africa has so far claimed the lives of more than a hundred people and left scores of others homeless. Many sports halls and also churches have been converted to accommodate the homeless. More heavy rainfall is also forecast for the coming days.
Southern Africa is currently in the summer cyclone season which brings heavy storms and precipitation until March or April. Although some meteorologists largely attribute the heavy rainfall to the so-called La Niña effect, which occurs every few years, others warn of an increase in such extreme weather events. “Our work shows that we will probably experience stronger and more violent tropical storms in the future,” South African meteorologist Andrew Green said in a TV interview.
The head of the meteorological research department at the University of Durban sees the danger that, given rising sea temperatures, cyclones will no longer hit the mainland on the coast of neighboring Mozambique, but on South Africa. “We don’t know exactly when – but we do know for sure that it will happen in the future,” Green said. dpa
