Search Climate Insights Directory

The study concludes that human-induced climate change approximately doubled the probability of the April 2022 extreme rainfall event in Eastern South Africa and increased its intensity by 4-8%. While the event had a return time of about 20 years in the current climate, it would have been rarer in a 1.2°C cooler world. The disaster's impact was severely exacerbated by structural vulnerabilities, including the legacy of apartheid spatial planning and the prevalence of informal settlements in high-risk areas.