As if to remind delegates attending the UN COP 17 climate talks in Durban, South Africa of the seriousness of the mission before them, violent storms swept through the host city Sunday night hours before talks were to begin, killing at least 6, destroying homes and flooding parts of the city waist deep.
The 2.5 inches of rainfall is the latest in what has already been an unseasonably wet November in KwaZulu-Natal province, prompting the European Union’s lead negotiator, Artur Runge-Metzger, to ask, “How high needs the water to get in this conference centre before negotiators start deciding?”
Severe, uncharacteristic weather is one of the many predicted outcomes of a global rise in temperature, and Africa is considered to be one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to precipitation extremes.
Sunday’s fatalities come a week after heavy rains and flooding killed 5 and destroyed scores of homes in KwaZulu-Natal.
