But if the devastation seems biblical in its dimensions, it's not to the heavens we should be looking to explain it. Undisturbed, Nature is equipped with plenty of checks and balances for preventing floods from getting out of hand.
Grasslands are excellent at increasing the filtration of rain into the ground.
This reduces surface run-off flowing into rivers during times of high rainfall and maximises groundwater seepage in the dry. When a river floods, wetlands spread the water, slow it down and absorb it like a sponge, preventing the dangerous high peaks from occuring. It is these peaks which cause most damage, washing away bridges and flooding towns. The RWP has surveyed the upper catchment of the Sand River in Mpumalanga, for example, and found that 80 per cent of its wetlands and most of its grasslands had been tilled for sub- sistance farming or had been overgrazed. It is no wonder that the Sand River is right now a raging torrent.