R5 billion blow from severe storms and flooding in South Africa
The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) says the severe weather that hit the Eastern Cape this month resulted in 95 confirmed deaths and did over R5 billion worth of damage.
The storms hit several provinces in early June, resulting in a national state of disaster being classified by the National Disaster Management Centre.
The floods caused widespread destruction to homes, government facilities, roads, hospitals, and schools.
“The impact of the incident was multifold: loss of lives, displaced families, infrastructure damage, homelessness, livestock losses, disruptions of basic services, disrupted access to healthcare, among others,” it said.
In KwaZulu-Natal, a total of 140 households were hit by storms and flooding, with 58 homes destroyed and 137 others partially damaged. About 962 people were directly impacted, with 31 families displaced.
Floods in KwaZulu-Natal have become commonplace. Floods severely hit the province in April 2022, which led to over 400 deaths and R17 billion worth of damages.
In 2024, floods hit the province again, causing another R3 billion in damages, followed by snowstorms later in the year.
In the most recent flooding, however, the department said that the Eastern Cape was hardest hit, with the Amathole and OR Tambo districts suffering the most.
Here, 95 people have been confirmed dead, 23 of whom were school-going children. Over 6,800 households were affected in some way, leaving thousands displaced.
Meanwhile, infrastructure damage assessments in the province have estimated the cost of repairing the damages at almost R5.2 billion.
Cogta said that damage to road infrastructure alone was approaching R1 billion, of which only R102 million has been reprioritised from the provincial department of transport’s budget.
Another R832 million is needed to address the shortfall, it said.
State of disaster
Because of the extent of the damages and assistance required, Cogta said the Disaster Management Act was activated and the incident was classified as a national state of disaster.
This differs from declaring a national state of disaster, as it still functions within the bounds of standing and available legislation, while a declaration allows the government to step outside of that.
Under the classification of a national state of disaster, various organs of state in other spheres of government are able to step in and assist with managing the disaster.
Importantly, it allows the affected municipalities, provincial and national departments to reallocate funds from their own grants to augment the resources for intervention measures.
Cogta said that the classification does not take away any legislated responsibilities, nor does it guarantee approval and allocation of funding.
However, funding remains a serious issue, as the region does not have access to the required amounts to cover the contingencies.
The provincial disaster response grant in the Division of Revenue Bill amounts to R151 million in 2025/26, while the municipal disaster reponse grant amounts to R395 million.
This is far lower than the R5.2 billion in damages caused. Complicating matters is the fact that the Division of Revenue Bill has not yet been enacted due to the delayed budget process.
According to the department, this means that only 45% of the total amounts for 2024/25 can be transferred at present—and there are funding requests from before the current incident to be considered.
This means that only R67 million from provincial grants and R170 million from municipal grants (R237 million combined) can be potentially accessed to deal with the current disaster.
As the country continues through the winter months, the department warned that further incidents are an ever-present risk.
Key risks for winter include fires, both in velds and in structures, windstorms, floods and drought.
The department said that all spheres of government should conduct disaster risk assessments for their respective areas to identify risks and expose threats, as well as prepare and implement disaster management plans.
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