Limpopo residents are feeling the wrath of nature as a result of heavy rainfall. Floodwaters have claimed lives as houses, roads, bridges and sanitation blocks have been washed away in various villages in Vhembe and Mopani.

It has been raining in the two districts since last week, something which was last experienced in 2000 when it rained for four weeks straight. The South African Weather Services have since warned that Limpopo and Mpumalanga will continue to experience heavy rains until early next week.

“This is my first time experiencing such destruction by nature. Everything is a mess at the moment and I do not know how we are going to pick up the pieces. Look, at the moment we are stuck in our small village, as the bridge is overflowing and we are cut-off from the rest of the district,” says Emmanuel Ndou. Residents are currently locked down in the village and are unable to get out and buy essentials.

Ndou is a resident of Tswinga village, outside of Thohoyandou, which is among the villages in Vhembe currently inaccessible. He works as a security officer at a clothing store in a shopping complex in the town, but has not been to work since Monday. “We are slowly running out of essentials at home and the outside pit toilet which we have been using has also fallen in. Everything is a mess and on top of that, I am also worried about losing my job,” he says.

“One can easily die here. At the moment, we cannot even access our local clinics. What if someone gets sick? What will we do with them? Our government saw this coming, as our roads were already in a bad state long before the rain and they should have fixed them long time ago,” says Ndou.

Ndou is just one of many residents in Limpopo counting the costs of the continuous rains. In Mutale outside of Thohoyandou, a 22-year-old man has been missing since Monday, after he was swept away while trying to cross an overflowing bridge. He was crossing the bridge with his father, who managed to swim across, but the son was overpowered by the strong current.

“He is still missing. We have been searching for him since Monday with police divers but still there is no sign of him. But we will not give up until we find him. The rain is also not making things easier for us as it continues to pour down,” says a family member.

Response by authorities

In Mbaula village in Mopani, rescue parties are on the lookout for a missing 5-year-old boy who was swept away when their family house was flooded. In the same village, several houses have been left damaged while others have completely collapsed.

On Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa, together with Limpopo premier Phophi Ramathuba visited the areas which have been hardest hit by the floods in Limpopo to assess the damage. Ramathuba revealed during a media briefing on Friday that more than R1.7-billion is needed to repair flood-damaged infrastructure in Limpopo.

“An estimated R1.7 billion will be required to repair damaged infrastructure across the province. This includes roads, bridges and houses that have been destroyed or severely affected by the floods. We are assessing the extent of the damage and working with relevant departments to ensure that assistance is received soon,” she said.

Floods have also led to the temporary closure of some healthcare facilities in Vhembe as they are currently inaccessible due to eroded roads. Provincial health spokesperson, Neil Shikwamba said that the affected facilities include De Hoop, Duvhuledza, Tswinga and Tshipise clinics.

Summer of extremes highlights growing climate crisis

Meanwhile, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) issued a statement that South Africa is experiencing a summer of extremes marked by severe flooding, widespread fires and a growing shortage of water which, according to the organisation, is a clear sign of the escalating impact of climate change.

“With severe flooding in Limpopo and Mpumalanga, wide-spread fires across the Eastern and Western Cape provinces and water shortages facing towns along the Garden Route, South Africa is experiencing a summer of extremes. This week, the Copernicus Climate Change Service and World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) released fresh data indicating that global temperatures have already warmed by around 1.4°C above pre-industrial levels,” according to the WWF.

“The years 2020 to 2030 were meant to be the critical decade of action to bring runaway climate change under control and yet we are already in 2026, without having achieved any of the interim targets set by the Paris climate agreement,” said James Reeler, senior climate specialist at WWF.

Copernicus estimates that long-term global warming has reached about 1.4°C above the 1850–1900 average. At the current pace, the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit could be reached by the end of this decade – over a decade earlier than predicted based on the rate of warming at the time the agreement was signed in December 2015.

“Our heart goes out to all those affected by recent extreme weather events. In the South African context, these weather events carry very heavy economic and human costs. Too frequently, the conversation is around the cost of putting mitigation measures in place to limit climate change, but it’s clear there is an even higher cost attached to inaction. We need to start spending money where it counts – on limiting emissions and preparing our people for a changing climate. In short, we must cut emissions faster, work to protect and restore nature and scale solutions while the window for action remains open. Our summer of extremes is but a small foretaste of the climate impacts that could follow if we do not act now,” Reeler said.