National Disaster Status of the Flood Disaster in South Africa

Some region in South Africa was affected by an extreme flood. This hydrometeorological disaster caused many complex impacts. The flood disaster in South Africa, the national government has been declared a national disaster. A flash flood that struck South Africa caused the rivers to overflow, and all activities were totally stopped.

Chronology of the Flood Disaster in South Africa

Starting at the end of December 2025, heavy rains that followed by lightning and strong winds in South Africa. The impact is an extreme flood that hit five provinces. The disaster was related to the La Niña climate phenomenon.

The river water overflowed and submerged residential areas. The South African Government declared a national disaster status on January 18^th, 2026, as an effective response. A warning of potential extreme weather is enforced until January 19^th, 2026. The warning system enforcement is to protect public safety. This extreme flood also hit neighboring countries that directly border South Africa, namely Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

The Impacts of Flood

A flash flood in South Africa is challenging because of its impact on many sectors. A big disaster struck five provinces in South Africa. The five affected provinces are KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, and the Eastern Cape.

Among others, there are two provinces with the worst damage. Limpopo was the province with the worst damage after Mpumalanga. The following are the various impacts of extreme flash floods, which caused significant losses.

1. Fatalities and Injuries

Limpopo and Mpumalanga are two provinces in northeastern South Africa that have the worst impact of floods. The major fatalities and injuries case is in there. There are 37 people have died, and several others are missing. The number of fatalities and injuries is probably increasing as there are still people missing.

2. Damage to Residential Area

Flash floods undoubtedly inundated and damaged homes. Consistent with the fact that the greatest loss of life was in Limpopo and Mpumalanga, the worst damage was also there. More than 1,300 homes were severely submerged and destroyed by the strong currents of floodwaters. This condition is causing enormous material losses.

3. Damage to Public Facilities and Infrastructure

A flood disaster in South Africa not only struck residential areas and rice fields owned by residents. That is a flash flood with a strong current. This terrible disaster hit many public facilities and infrastructures, so all activities have been completely stopped. Many school buildings were damaged and submerged.

Not only residents, but also flood victims include tourists who are on holiday. The iconic national park in South Africa was also struck by a flood. It is the Kruger National Park that has a total of 2,000 hectares. Tourists and staff have been evacuated, approximately 300 to 600 people.

The operations of the national park have been temporarily closed. It will reopen gradually to visitors when there is a normal condition, and the restoration is complete.

Because of the strong current of floodwater, infrastructures were automatically damaged. Land access was disrupted due to damaged or submerged roads. Damaged bridges also cut off access between several connected areas. The damage to infrastructure is estimated at US$240 million.

The National Disaster Status

South Africa assessed the situation in its region after flash floods struck. After 30 people died in the floods, the government ultimately declared a national disaster status. The declaration was made by the Head of the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) and announced by the government on January 18^th, 2026. The purpose of declaring a national disaster was to allow the national government to coordinate the disaster response.

The status determination is based on Article 23 of the Disaster Management Law Number 57 of 2002. The agreement to declare a national disaster status from coordination initiated by the Head of the NDMC through the National Joint Flood Coordination Committee. In addition to reviewing regulations, a comprehensive assessment of severe weather conditions since the end of November 2025 was conducted.

After the declaration of a national disaster, all related institutions are responsible for participating in disaster management. They have many responsibilities. These consist of participating in the disaster management structure, implementing emergency steps, and submitting progressive reports to the NDMC. At the end, they need to coordinate a multisectoral approach to disaster management.

The relevant agencies and the central government quickly coordinate as a manifestation of seriousness in handling the flood disaster in South Africa. The concrete actions emerged from this coordination. This positive response has led to concrete actions to ensure public safety and improve environmental conditions. One preventative measure is improving the disaster warning system.

Nowadays, warning systems are increasingly needed given the unstable natural conditions. More comprehensive warning signals are needed than just sirens or alarms. Emergency messaging is the solution. Now, the central government can procure the emergency message-sender engine based on SMS (Short Message Service).

SMS service facilitates the real-time sending of emergency messages to mobile phones, without relying on an internet signal. These machines have a wide range of 500 m to 2 km, available to all operators. Procurement of these machines can be done through the website smsbroadcaster.com.