Large parts of South Africa’s most important farming provinces have been soaked by unprecedented rain, causing floods and crop damage and adding to concern that climate change is making weather cycles more erratic. Many districts across six of the country’s nine provinces experienced the most rainfall on record since tracking by district began in 1921. That includes the main belt for growing corn, of which South Africa is the biggest exporter on the continent. The government has declared a national disaster, a legal designation that will help unlock financial and humanitarian aid, citing death, flooding and infrastructure damage.
