Overall Green Drought for South Africa-2025
in South Africa

Event summary

The drought has lasted for 7 months. Drought indicators suggest anomalies typical of mild to severe events.

GDACS ID DR 1018139
Name: South Africa-2025
Countries: South Africa
Start Date: End of Jul 2025
Duration: 195 days (at 10 Feb 2026)
Impact: Minor impact for agricultural drought in 137790 km2
More info: Global Drought Observatory

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Virtual OSOCC
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Detailed event map. European Union, 2026. Map produced by EC-JRC.
The boundaries and the names shown on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the European Union.

Updates on volcanic activity (Smithsonian)

Latest media headlines

Invasive mesquite plants threaten NC’s soil and livelihoods 2/28/2026 11:12:00 AM.

Mesquite ( Neltuma juliflora ), a woody plant native to parts of South America, was introduced into South Africa’s drylands in the 1880s with good intentions. Bringing it to South Africa was meant to stabilise soils, provide shade, and offe
...(more)
Floods Have Affected 1.9 Million Africans Since October 2025 2/25/2026 6:08:00 PM.

The continent has transitioned from drought caused by El Niño to intense rainfall linked to La Niña. On Wednesday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that at least 374 people have died and
...(more)
Invasive Mesquite Plants Do More Than Deplete Water Reserves New Resea.. 2/24/2026 8:21:00 AM.

- The Conversation) Mesquite (Neltuma juliflora ), a woody plant native to parts of South America, was introduced into South Africa''s drylands in the 1880s with good intentions. Bringing it to South Africa was meant to stabilise soils, pro
...(more)
La crisi idrica del Sudafrica: dighe e bacini sono pieni ma l’acqua in.. 2/23/2026 11:32:00 AM.

23 Febbraio 2026 Acqua Parlando alla nazione nei giorni scorsi il presidente sudafricano Cyril Ramaphosa ha proclamato l’emergenza idrica disastro nazionale. Eppure, a differenza di altri paesi africani il Sudafrica non dovrebbe trovarsi in
...(more)

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Estimated casualties (PAGER)

USGS estimates the number of casualties for each earthquake for the Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) product.
The graph shows the current fatalities estimate.

Exposed population

Data, images, links, services and documents

For this events, GDACS has links to information from the following sources: EC-JRC (36), WMO (1), INFORM (2), (1),