Climate change amplifies southern africa floods that killed 280 and displaced nearly one million people

A catastrophic flooding disaster has ravaged Southern Africa since December 2025, claiming at least 280 lives and affecting nearly one million people across five countries. Scientists have confirmed that climate change significantly intensified the extreme rainfall that devastated Mozambique, Eswatini, Madagascar, South Africa, and Zimbabwe during the region’s rainy season.

The floods displaced 150,000 people and destroyed 105,000 hectares of crucial farmland—an area nearly the size of Los Angeles. The situation worsened when Cyclone Gezani struck Madagascar on February 10, adding dozens more casualties and extending the destruction into already flood-ravaged Mozambique.

A rapid analysis by World Weather Attribution (WWA), an international scientific consortium, revealed alarming rainfall patterns that defied historical norms. “The most striking finding was that the rainfall accumulated over just 10 days exceeded the region’s average annual rainfall. This was unprecedented,” explained lead researcher Izidine Pinto, a climatologist at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute. Some weather stations recorded over 8 inches of rain in a single day—a deluge that overwhelmed infrastructure and natural drainage systems.

The study found that rising global temperatures, combined with La Niña weather patterns, created the perfect storm for extreme precipitation. However, the disaster’s severity was amplified by structural vulnerabilities across the affected regions. Mozambique, according to researchers, was particularly unprepared for such intense rainfall, lacking adequate flood management systems and early warning infrastructure to protect vulnerable communities from climate-driven extreme weather events.