Southern Africa Swamped by Incessant Rainfall

Meteorologists say that persistent warmer-than-normal sea-surface temperatures over the Indian Ocean are spawning tropical disturbances like cyclones, and triggering some of the flooding.

The United Nations launched a “flash” appeal to Western donors to help its relief agencies cope with some of the worst flooding in southern Africa since 1963.

Namibia’s government declared a state of emergency in areas where huge inundations forced more than 13,000 people from their homes.

According to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 21 people in neighboring Angola have been killed due to the floods, with an estimated 200,000 others affected by the disaster.

Official figures indicate more than 3,200 houses have been destroyed, as well as more than 100 schools.

The Zambezi river, along Namibia's northeastern Caprivi Region, rose to 25 feet this week, its highest level in 40 years, Caprivi Governor Leonard Mwilima said.

OCHA spokewoman Elizabeth Byrns said that elephants have been driven into populated areas by rising waters, where they have destroyed crops nearing harvest.

Stalled weather patterns have brought unusually heavy rainfall that has displaced many others from Uganda and Zambia to northern Botswana and Mozambique.

Photo: Earthbrowser