Impact of Inclement Weather across CapeNature Reserves in May 2026

The last bout of extreme weather began in early May, when a cut-off low-pressure system hit the Garden Route. A week later, two powerful cold fronts swept through the rest of the Province, unleashing torrential rains and gale-force winds. The result has been widespread damage, with 85% of all reserves reporting at least some form of damage. The Cederberg region has emerged as the hardest hit. Still reeling from a devastating fire in December that burnt 53 000 hectares, the area has now been subjected to severe flooding. The deluge has washed vast quantities of topsoil into rivers and onto roadways, compounding the ecological scars left by the fire. Other reserves have reported damage to essential infrastructure, including roads, hiking trails, office buildings, storage facilities, and staff housing.

CapeNature was able to secure additional funding from a national disaster declaration in 2023 and 2024, and these funds were channelled into repairing the damage caused by earlier floods. Yet the latest storms have inflicted new costly damage to nature reserves — much of it to the very same infrastructure that had just been rebuilt. The Entity is still counting the costs, with the damage estimated to be millions of rands.

While the aftermath of this weather is a blow to CapeNature’s efforts to rebuild and to the Province’s ‘build-back-better’ philosophy, a full re-evaluation of all completed work and assessment of fresh damage is being done to quantify the full impact. In response, CapeNature staff, alongside officials from the Department of Infrastructure, will embark on a comprehensive damage assessment tour of CapeNature’s reserves from 8 to 12 June.

Despite the devastation, there is a silver lining because the flooding occurred so early in the winter season, many of the dams were not yet at full capacity and were able to serve as flood attenuation structures, absorbing excess runoff and reducing the potential for even greater erosion and inundation. The release of this water will have to be done with extreme caution in the coming weeks and months to ensure that dams do not inadvertently add to flood risks. As the winter settles in, we hope for a milder and more stable cold season ahead.