On 11-13 April, severe flooding and landslides caused by heavy rainfall affected southern and south-eastern South Africa, particularly the Provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape.

According to national authorities, 443 people died in KwaZulu-Natal and over 40,000 are missing. More than 40,000 people have been displaced, while nearly 4,000 houses were destroyed and more than 8,000 others were damaged, mostly across Durban City and its surrounding areas. 

A National State of Disaster has been declared in response to the floods and landslides, and rescue teams have been deployed to the affected areas to provide humanitarian assistance to those most affected. The International Disaster Charter 755 was activated for South Africa.

On 19-20 April, moderate rainfall is forecast over north-eastern South Africa, while no heavy rainfall is expected over the already affected Provinces.

Shongweni Dam Collapse

During the worst of the flooding there were reports of the collapse of the Shongweni Dam, situated just outside Durban. However the Department of Water and Sanitation South Africa promptly dismissed these claims. In a statement of 13 April, the department said:

“We would like to reiterate that Shongweni Dam has not collapsed. The dam is equipped with 10 Hydroplus fuse gates which are designed to “tip” and fail in sequence to avoid catastrophic failure of the entire dam. Gate 1 on the far left and Gate 2 on the far right starts tipping when the dam reaches a specific level.

“Had this not occurred, the dam was going to be subjected to more pressure which would threaten the stability of the concrete wall. So it is behaving as it should during flood conditions as presently experienced in parts of KwaZulu-Natal.

“We are keeping a close eye on this, there is no need to be alarmed.”