South African resorts along the popular eastern Indian Ocean coastline were hoping for a booming Easter weekend after the COVID-19 outbreak kept tourists away for two years.
Last week, however, severe rains unleashed floods and mudslides, killing over 440 people, shutting down electricity and water supply, and burying the beaches in and around Durban, KwaZulu-Natal province.
During what is traditionally the second busiest time of the year, some hotels had a third of their bookings cancelled, and others were forced to close. According to provincial officials, they expected roughly 360,000 people to arrive, but only received about half of that.
In a country with over 30% unemployment, tourism remains a major employer. find out more
“Coming out of COVID… we wanted the visitors back, and we were getting there, but these rains wreaked chaos,” financial adviser Eugene Naidu told Reuters from his mud-strewn holiday property in Umdloti, near Durban.
As global warming raises temperatures in the Indian Ocean, Africa’s southeastern coast is on the front lines of seaborne storm systems that are being exacerbated by global warming.
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