Johannesburg – Rescue teams in South Africa raced on Thursday to reach survivors after heavy rains flooded parts of an eastern province, with 49 people already confirmed dead and fears the toll could rise.
Torrential rains and freezing temperatures struck the largely rural and underdeveloped Eastern Cape on Monday, causing major flooding that submerged houses and swept away at least one minibus transporting children to school, four of whom were still missing.
“We may have more people unaccounted for,” Eastern Cape government spokesperson Khuselwa Rantjie told AFP.
Rantjie said that five teams were involved in search and rescue efforts around the city of Mthatha, about 800 kilometres (500 miles) south of Johannesburg.
🇿🇦 The death toll from floodings in #SouthAfrica has risen to 49, according to the local government.
Heavy snowfall, torrential rain and freezing winds have affected several areas of the Eastern Cape province.@tomcanetti with more ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/RefBE2OO0J
— Eye on Africa – France 24 (@EyeOnAfricaF24) June 12, 2025
Among the 49 confirmed dead, at least four were children, the province’s top official, Lubabalo Oscar Mabuyane, said on Wednesday.
They had been in a school minibus carrying 11 children that was swept away by high water.
Authorities said four children and two adults in the bus were confirmed to have died, while three children were found alive.
“We have never seen this kind of combination of snow and torrential rains in winter simultaneously,” Mabuyane said.
“We are reeling,” Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube told public broadcaster SABC News in an interview from Mthatha early Thursday.
At least 49 people have died following devastating floods triggered by a fierce cold front sweeping across South Africa, bringing torrential rains and snow.
In the Eastern Cape, the hardest-hit province, flooding has caused widespread destruction—homes washed away, roads closed. pic.twitter.com/wjMkzDIhEB— 3Ktv (@3KtvZim) June 12, 2025
She said that in addition to the schoolgoers in the minibus, a boy died when he was swept away by water while walking to school.
Images on local media showed houses completely under water and rescue teams wading through the mud.
Around 600 people have been displaced, the provincial government said, with many sheltering in community halls.
There was also significant damage to infrastructure, including to power and water supplies, with at least 20 health facilities affected, local authorities said.
The province, where Nelson Mandela was born, is among the poorest in the country, with 72 percent of its population living below the poverty line, according to the Southern African Regional Poverty Network.
At least 49 people were confirmed dead as #floods devastated one of #SouthAfrica’s poorest provinces, and officials said the toll was expected to rise as more bodies are recovered in the search for missing people #mthathafloods – AP Photos pic.twitter.com/C0nUKE0Vqb
— Deccan Chronicle (@DeccanChronicle) June 12, 2025
President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement that emergency services, including the National Disaster Management Centre, were “giving the requisite attention to crises as they unfold”.
Snow and heavy rainfall are common during winter in South Africa but the country is also highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate variability and change, which increases the frequency and severity of droughts, floods and wildfires, according to the Green Climate Fund.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
