Overview of Natural Calamities in Africa

Nov 07, 2025 0

Africa is comprised of 54 countries and four major climate zones: deserts, grasslands, tropical forests, and semiarid lands. This diverse range comes with a variety of natural disasters. The effects of natural disasters have dangerous and expensive impacts on communities in Africa. Natural disasters are severe weather events that threaten life and the structural integrity of surrounding property and land. The effects of natural disasters can be financially and culturally devastating to a country.

Out of 100 disasters reported worldwide, only 20 occur in Africa, but Africa suffers 60% of all disaster-related deaths. This is probably due to the type of hazards that affect this continent, to under-reporting, and to the fact that under the circumstances prevailing in Africa, it is easy for any disaster to escalate and multiply its impact. Disasters occur when hazards and vulnerability meet. Africa's natural hazards are mainly epidemics, endemic diseases, drought, floods, agricultural pests and bush fires, but some areas are also susceptible to earthquakes, cyclones and volcanic eruptions.

The natural hazards interact with manmade ones, such as armed conflicts, air, road and railway incidents, other industrial hazards such as mining accidents, chemical spills, etc., and with widespread vulnerability. The context is one of rapid population growth, forced movements of population, environmental degradation, precarious urbanization, food insecurity, poverty, fragile economies, infrastructures and institutions, and cultural and political instability. The 53 countries of the continent are highly susceptible and vulnerable and their 761,390,000 people are exposed to both natural and manmade hazards. Through complex causal chains, disasters affect people directly and indirectly.

Recent Deadly Disasters

Over the past year, Africa has experienced five of its top 30 deadliest weather disasters since record-keeping began in 1900, according to statistics from EM-DAT, the international disaster database. In its Disasters Year in Review 2022 report, EM-DAT noted that the human and economic impact of disasters (not including the COVID-19 pandemic) was relatively higher in 2022 in Africa, with 16.4% of the share of all global disaster deaths, compared to 3.8% in the previous two decades. If one includes the 43,000 deaths from the 2022 drought in Sudan, Africa had 65% of all global disaster deaths in 2022.

Recent deadly disasters include:

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Cyclone Freddy (2023): The deadliest tropical cyclone on record for Africa, surpassing Cyclone Idai of 2019. Freddy left 679 dead and 537 people missing and presumed dead in Malawi, with additional fatalities in Madagascar (17), Mozambique (198), Zimbabwe (2), and Mauritius (1). That includes deaths from Cyclone Freddy, which made landfall in Mozambique on March 11, 2o23, as a Category 2 storm with 110 mph winds, causing flooding now blamed for 1,434 deaths.
Drought in Uganda (2022): 2,465 deaths.
Flooding in West Africa (2022): 876 deaths, 603 of them in Nigeria.
Flooding in South Africa (2022): 544 deaths.
Drought in Somalia (2022): Led to 43,000 excess deaths, according to a February 2023 study by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
Flooding in DRC and Rwanda (2024): Severe flooding in late April and early May in the DRC and Rwanda have killed at least 574 people. Thousands more are missing and the death toll is likely to rise significantly, according to Aon.

The Role of Climate Change

Many of the recent disasters affecting the vast continent can be blamed on human-caused climate change, research has found. Innovations in climate science have made it possible for scientists study whether human-caused climate change influenced a specific disaster, a field known as attribution science.

A human climate change influence has been found via scientific attribution studies in more than 20 African extreme weather events since 2000, including 13 droughts, seven floods, and two heat waves. One of the more confident predictions hurricane scientists can make on the future of tropical cyclones in a warmer climate is that they will dump heavier rains due to increased moisture in the atmosphere. Climate change also made Cyclone Freddy’s deadly heavy rains more likely, though there is no specific attribution study for this event yet. This finding was mostly related to rising temperatures, which help dry out the landscape and exacerbate the impacts of any drought when it does occur.

The most recent of these studies, by the World Weather Attribution group, was completed in April 2023 for the 2020-22 drought in East Africa. The 2020-22 rainfall deficit was largely a product of La Niña and a phenomenon known as a negative Indian Ocean Dipole, both of which are difficult to foresee in climate models.

South African countries are experiencing global warming at an alarming rate-twice as much as the rest of the world. This has caused flooding to greatly increase.

As with many other recent natural hazards, climate change has played a significant role in the floods. East Africa is particularly vulnerable to more intense climate risks which can have a detrimental impact on the region.

The year 2024 was the warmest or second-warmest year, depending on the dataset, and the past decade has been the warmest on record. Sea-surface temperatures around the continent were at record levels, with particularly rapid warming in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Marine heatwaves impacted the biggest area since measurements started in 1993.

“The State of the Climate in Africa report reflects the urgent and escalating realities of climate change across the continent,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo. “It also reveals a stark pattern of extreme weather events, with some countries grappling with exceptional flooding caused by excessive rainfall and others enduring persistent droughts and water scarcity.”

“WMO and its partners are committed to working with Members to build resilience and strengthen adaptation efforts in Africa through initiatives like Early Warnings for All,” said Celeste Saulo. “It is my hope that this report will inspire collective action to address increasingly complex challenges and cascading impacts.”

The report highlights the challenges for agriculture and the environment; food, water and energy security; and health and education. But it also stresses opportunities and new tools to meet the challenges.

Specific Impacts and Statistics

A 2023 report from the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction found that disasters between 2015-2021 cost Africa 12.3% of its GDP, and stated “This is a significant amount of loss, bringing harsh economic consequences, major disruptions to national, regional and international markets, with far-reaching impacts on the socioeconomic well-being of its citizens.

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Unfortunately, adaptation to increasingly severe climate conditions is not well funded. Between 2014-2018, less than $4 billion per year in international climate adaptation financing was provided to Africa, which needed $7-15 billion per year of such funding as of 2020.

Because of Africa’s poor and vulnerable populations, and the relatively narrow range of variation in Africa’s climate, the continent is expected to suffer among the most severe climate change impacts of any place on Earth. However, it is very difficult to detect potential climate change-related trends in African disaster deaths, because these numbers have a high uncertainty.

For example, EM-DAT, the international disaster database, lists the death toll of a 2010-11 drought in Somalia at 20,000. However, several other estimates are much higher - a 2023 paper cited references putting the 2010-12 drought toll in Somalia at 256,000.

Since drought, war, political instability, and disease all contribute to African famine death tolls, it is a challenging task to separate out the fatalities that can be directly or indirectly attributed to the drought itself. In addition, African disaster deaths since 1900 as cataloged by EM-DAT are dominated by a few mega-disasters, making trend analysis difficult.

Between 1970 and 2019, it was reported that over 730,000 people in Africa were killed as a result of natural disasters.

Here's a table summarizing the data from the text regarding the average annual disaster deaths in Africa:

Decade	Average Annual Deaths from Disasters
2000s	Data missing in source text
2010s	Data missing in source text
2020-2022	Data missing in source text

Specific Natural Disasters and Their Impact

Flooding

Countries in West Africa are no stranger to floods, droughts, cyclones, storm surges, and landslides, though in recent years, flooding has caused the most severe problems. In August of 2021, it was reported that flooding in Gambia had killed at least 12, while over 100,000 were significantly affected by food insecurity. Niger, another West African country, saw at least 158,000 individuals from over 400 villages impacted by heavy floods. In 2021, almost 300,000 people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo were affected by heavy floodwaters. The capital of Bangui, which is home to almost 1 million in the Central African Republic, faced massive flooding that destroyed homes and structures important to their municipality.

Each country has a rainy season, with varying dates. For example, the “long rains,” as they are known, occur annually in Kenya and Tanzania from March to May. In Somalia, the Gu rains fall between April and June, with the Deyr rains between October and December. Years of drought, which hardened the soil, also compounded the effects of the rains, increasing the impact of the flooding.

Internal and external displacement is of significant concern to UNHCR as thousands of people were forced to move, sometimes repeatedly, due to the flooding. Across the region, more than 400,000 people were displaced, including some who were already displaced.

The National Disaster Operations Centre in Kenya reported a critical situation with the waterways and dams across the country with all seven of its hydroelectric dams overtopped at one point.

Reduced access to water and sanitation because of damage to water sources and WASH facilities, including latrines, increases the risk of diseases such as cholera. On June 6, UN OCHA reported 34,500 cholera cases between January and May 2024. The WHO reported at least 13,814 cases, including 122 deaths, as of May 26 in Somalia.

In 2020, at least 1.6 million Somalian, Sudanese, and Ethiopian people were forced to evacuate their homes due to intense flooding.

Cyclones

Tropical cyclones (also known as hurricanes and typhoons) pose significant global threats to life and property, bringing a variety of hazards, including storm surges, flooding, extreme winds and tornadoes.

For the first time in the satellite era, two tropical cyclones, Hidaya and Ialy, developed in May and moved over the far north-western part of the basin near Tanzania and Kenya over a region rarely frequented by mature tropical systems.

Cyclone Hidaya hit the region on May 4, increasing rains and flooding but not causing as much damage in Kenya or Tanzania as feared. It made landfall on Mafia Island on Tanzania’s Mafia Islands Archipelago in the Indian Ocean before quickly dissipating. Two people died in Tanzania because of the cyclone and seven were injured.

Hidaya was the strongest cyclone ever to hit Tanzania, according to Africa News. The Tanzanian Meteorological Authority (TMA) reported heavy downpours along the coast on May 4, with over 3.5 inches of rain reported in Mtwara.

Tropical Cyclone Chido had devastating effects as it made landfall on Mayotte (France) as the most powerful storm in 90 years to impact the island which forms part of the Comoros archipelago. It then hit Mozambique and Malawi. Tens of thousands of people were affected; many were left homeless and without access to drinkable water.

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Drought

While the coast of northern Africa is more moderate and experiences regular rainfall, the sunny desert space of North Africa, which contains the Sahara, is extremely dry. Due to the dry conditions resulting in a decreased agricultural yield, some countries in the region may be forced to rely on foreign aid to stay fed, which is not only expensive but potentially unreliable. In addition to lacking nourishment, many people also found themselves being displaced from their homes.

Southern Africa experienced damaging drought conditions, particularly in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, which suffered the worst drought in at least two decades. The aggregate cereal yields in southern Africa were 16% below the five-year average - and in the case of Zambia and Zimbabwe 43% and 50%, respectively. Low water levels and low hydropower output from Lake Kariba, Africa’s largest man-made reservoir, caused prolonged power outages and economic disruption.

North Africa recorded its third consecutive below-average cereal harvest due to low rainfall and extreme high temperatures. Morocco’s output fell 42% below the five-year average after six consecutive years of drought.

Many of the areas affected were already extremely vulnerable because of other hazards, including drought.

Erosion: The extreme flooding, high winds, and landslides associated with many kinds of natural disasters can devastate land that many people in Africa rely on for agricultural purposes.

Mitigation and Preparation Strategies

Preparation is the most important aspect of protecting your community from the effects of a natural disaster. Sometimes, impoverished countries may need to rely on foreign aid to get through a natural disaster.

Preparedness and prompt action can reduce the impact of natural hazards and help prevent loss of life, livelihoods, and property. The EU supports actions that improve the capacity of communities, as well as regional, national and local disaster management authorities, to prepare for and respond to disasters.

Mitigation of effects: Ensure your community is equipped with effective forms of flood barriers, erosion control, and landslide diversion strategies.

Flood barriers: When rainfall is exceptionally intense, TrapBag flood barriers can divert the damaging flow of water away from at-risk areas like farmland and infrastructure.
Erosion control: Extreme winds, rising water levels, drought, earthquakes, and landslides can destabilize land.
Infrastructure support: TrapBags can provide reliable stability to bridges, dams, highways, and other forms of infrastructure during floods and storms, mitigating extensive damage, expensive repairs, and loss of employment.
Diversion walls: During landslides and mudslides, displaced earth can smash into buildings and homes, injuring people and causing huge amounts of structural damage.
Dams: Reliable dams are essential in preventing catastrophic flooding.
Levees: TrapBag levees are water barriers that prevent floodwaters from infiltrating elevated surfaces, like roadways and agricultural plots.
Stormwater containment: Natural disasters often result in contaminated runoff-large amounts of floodwater pick up debris from roadways and landfills. If not properly handled, this toxic water can destroy land and pollute water sources, which would be extremely detrimental in areas already plagued by drought.
Spill control: Chemical and/or oil spills, like stormwater runoff, can be extremely detrimental to the environment, especially agricultural plots.

The Role of Humanitarian Aid

Despite high levels of need, there is an underwhelming response to the various humanitarian appeals.

Humanitarian aid partners and government officials conducted search and rescue operations, and provided immediate life-saving assistance to affected communities. Many people lost everything in the floods. Direct cash assistance allows families to purchase items and services locally that address their multiple needs. It gives each family flexibility and choice, ensuring that support is relevant and timely.

Increased displacement means humanitarian partners must ensure they can reach affected communities. This includes mobile clinics for those on the move or tailored services and assistance that meet the needs and priorities of affected communities. Infection prevention and control and treatment measures need to be prioritized for funding.

Long-term recovery needs include long-term shelter or rebuilding of homes and community infrastructure, livelihood restoration and economic recovery.

After a disaster, protecting vulnerable individuals and ensuring access to their basic rights are immediate priorities.

In 2025, the EU made an initial allocation of €41 million to support humanitarian actions, including €10 million to strengthen disaster preparedness.

The swift provision of aid through emergency cash transfers to vulnerable people affected by disasters is also supported. This saves people from having to sell their possessions when food runs out.

Digital Transformation and Early Warning Systems

Many countries in Africa are embracing digital transformation to improve weather forecasts and early warnings and this has been identified as a regional priority. Artificial Intelligence brings new potential to strengthen service delivery.

For example, the Nigeria Meteorological Agency has embraced digital platforms to disseminate vital agricultural advisories and climate information. The Kenya Meteorological Department provides weather forecasts to farmers and fishers through mobile applications and SMS messages.

Artificial intelligence, mobile communication tools, and advanced weather prediction models are enhancing the accuracy and reach of weather services across Africa.