The government has declared a National State of Disaster to enable an 'intensive, coordinated response' to the floods that have devastated parts of seven of South Africa's nine provinces.

The ongoing above-normal rainfall in South Africa was classified as a national disaster by the National Disaster Management Centre on Monday, 13 February.

The Presidency said Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, the Northern Cape and North West had been affected by flooding, brought on by heavy rainfall as a result of the La Niña weather phenomenon.

Read more in Daily Maverick: "Rain-battered provinces record mounting death and destruction as state declares National State of Disaster"

"Over the last week, another cut-off low together with ample tropical moisture from a deep low pressure over Botswana continued to result in rainfall over areas that have received significant rainfall since the start of February," weather forecaster Wayne Venter from the SA Weather Service told Daily Maverick on Sunday, 19 February.

A cut-off low-pressure system developed in parts of the country on Wednesday, 8 February. This is a weather system that is notorious for causing severe weather, including heavy rainfall and flooding.

The SA Weather Service is the only mandated regulatory body that...