Editorial: Things we lost in the floods

The warnings were there [View this email in your browser]( FROM THE NEWSROOM April 13, 2022 [Mail & Guardian]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [YouTube]( Hi there, Climate change, drastic weather patterns, government negligence, maintenance failures: any one of these issues could be the main reason thousands of people have been upended in the flood damage this past week. But loss is still loss. We all send our condolences to those who have lost their loved ones in the past few days because of the heavy rains and mudslides all over the country, but especially in KwaZulu-Natal. It is unimaginable to lose everything you have worked for in a split second. You stand where your home used to be in shock. It’s gone now. You despair. But you have to get up again and rebuild. This is what thousands of people are going through across our country. This is not an isolated incident. The rains may dissipate in a week or two but they will be back. The South African Weather Service said this week that while it cannot attribute individual weather events occurring on short time scales to longer-term events such as global warming and climate change, heavy rain events such as KwaZulu-Natal’s extreme rainfall and widespread flooding can be expected to recur in the future and with increasing frequency because of global warming and associated climate change. South Africa urgently needs to heed the warnings of the Inter­governmental Panel on Climate Change. In February, it stated that climate change impacts and risks are “becoming increasingly complex” and more difficult to manage. But “there are feasible and effective adaptation options, which can reduce risks to people and nature”, it said. For urban areas, this includes integrated, inclusive planning and investment in “everyday decision-making” about urban infrastructure, “including social, ecological and grey/physical infrastructures”, which can significantly increase the adaptive capacity of urban and rural settlements. But we’re not seeing this in our cities. As experts told us this week, too often our response is focused on providing relief after the storm, not on preparing for it. We continue to bulk up our cities with concrete, and destroy our wetlands and other green infrastructure that helps us soak up floodwaters. Specifically in eThekwini, flood water drainage and infrastructure have not been adequately maintained for years. This is not the first or the last time floods wreak havoc in the region. By-laws are not policed and the authorities maintain a hope-and-a-prayer attitude to sprouting townships, many of which have now been wiped out by mudslides. The government needs to listen and take action and we need to hold them accountable. When the rain finally stops, let us not forgot that people have died here not only because of vastly changing weather patterns but also because of the failures of our government. Until next week, The M&G newsroom [Subscribe now]( Enjoy The Ampersand? Share it with your friends [Share]( [Share]( [Tweet]( [Tweet]( [Forward]( [Forward]( [Share]( [Share]( Copyright © 2022 Mail & Guardian Media LTD, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive communications from the Mail & Guardian either at our website or by taking out a print subscription. Our mailing address is: Mail & Guardian Media LTD 25 Owl St BraamfonteinJohannesburg, Gauteng 2001 South Africa [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe]( here.