KwaZulu-Natal’s farming community has been hit with a barrage of challenges since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. These began with pandemic-related restrictions in 2020, were followed by the anarchy and destruction of the unrest and rioting in 2021, and were succeeded in turn by the April 2022 floods.
The floods have been described as the most catastrophic natural disaster yet recorded in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) in terms of lives lost, homes and infrastructure damaged or destroyed, and economic impact, according to a study by researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg and the University of Brighton, UK, published in the South African Geographical Journal.
On 11 April 2022, the KZN coastal zone, including the greater Durban area and South Coast, received more than 300mm of rain in 24 hours, which led to calamitous flooding and 459 people losing their lives.
Over 4 000 homes were destroyed, 40 000 people left homeless, and 45 000 people left temporarily unemployed. The cost of infrastructure and business losses amounted to an estimated R37 billion.
All parts of the province were affected by the rainfall, with the entire eThekwini metro and the districts of iLembe, Ugu, King Cetshwayo and uMgungundlovu being most affected.
Many of these areas are farmland, predominantly sugar cane fields, and these were all but destroyed during the flooding.
The impact of the floods saw President Cyril Ramaphosa declare a national state of disaster to deal actively with the fallout.
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