South Africa declares national disaster over flooding

South Africa declared a national disaster on Monday after heavy rains left seven of its nine provinces flooded, destroying roads and bridges and leaving farmers suffering losses.

A statement from the presidency said the national weather service predicts that the heavy rains will persist,

The government has “declared a national state of disaster to enable an intensive, co-ordinated response to the impact of floods,” the statement said, but gave no indication of casualties.

It said the heavy rains were brought by the La Niña global weather phenomenon, which occurs in the Pacific Ocean