Insurance provider Santam has partnered with the South African Weather Service (SAWS) to sponsor the installation of nine automatic weather stations (AWS) across the country, with the aim of strengthening the country’s early warning and forecasting capabilities and to ensure communities are better prepared to deal with severe weather-related occurrences and disasters.

In a media release, the SAWS and Santam explain that the partnership has been spurred on by data that shows South Africa is experiencing increasingly frequent and severe weather events, including floods, storms and fires, which cause loss of life and billions of rands in damages.

Early warning systems, therefore, play a key role in warning people of impending hazards and are therefore not a luxury but cost-effective tools to enhance preparedness, save lives and reduce economic losses.

Despite this, the parties note that there are still major observational gaps across parts of South Africa.

During a media event on May 7, Santam head of strategy and investor relations Thabiso Rulashe highlighted the impact of climate change and severe weather occurrences. He noted that the 2022 floods in KwaZulu-Natal alone caused estimated damages of more than R50-billion.

“Climate change is no longer a future threat; it is already shaping the economy [and] our communities. That is why Santam has partnered with the SAWS – to strengthen South Africa's early warning and weather forecasting capabilities and to ensure communities have the information they need to act before disaster strikes.

“More importantly, early warnings save lives and it protects homes, livelihoods and local economies,” he said.

Also speaking at the event, SAWS head of disaster risk reduction Rudzani Malala described the partnership as a welcome addition to the SAWS’s observational infrastructure fleet, which includes 276 AWSes, 211 automatic rainfall stations, 26 lightning detection network sensors, 25 climate stations and 12 meteorological radar systems, among other equipment.

He explained that the new AWSes have already been installed and integrated into the SAWS network.

The installations include four AWS units in Limpopo and Mpumalanga piloted during 2021 and 2022, as well as five additional stations that have recently been commissioned in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, the Western Cape and Gauteng.

In the release, Santam and the SAWS explain that the locations of the new stations were identified through a needs-driven process led by the SAWS, focusing on areas with known observational gaps and heightened exposure to disruptive rainfall, flooding and severe weather events.

They note that the eastern seaboard, stretching from the Eastern Cape through KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and into north-eastern parts of Limpopo has experienced repeated episodes of extreme and disruptive rainfall in recent years, while additional gaps were identified in parts of the Western Cape and Gauteng.

Santam and the SAWS said they are formalising the partnership to create a structured platform for future investments in weather observation infrastructure, awareness initiatives and capacity-building to support the SAWS in executing its national and international responsibilities.

“This observational infrastructure is the backbone of the weather and climate services that the SAWS render day in and day out. The weather forecasts and impact-based severe weather warnings we disseminate every other day come from this infrastructure.

“Moreover, it is this infrastructure on which the country relies to be able to ensure that every person in our communities is protected from hazardous weather, water or climate events through life saving early warning systems, and this we hope to achieve by 2027 in line with the UN Early Warnings for All Initiative,” Malala said at the event.

He discussed the Early Warnings for All roadmap that South Africa unveiled last year, describing it as a strategic guide to drive initiatives from national to local spheres of government and channel investments towards enhancing early warning systems for a more effective disaster risk reduction.

He explained that the roadmap set out recommended actions designed to prioritise investment in early warning systems and disaster risk reduction.

While early warning systems were important to mitigate the effects of climate change and extreme weather events, Malala noted that South Africa needed R1-billion to fully implement the Early Warnings for All roadmap.

He explained that the money would be allocated towards bolstering the country’s observational infrastructure, including coordination of the roadmap roll out.

He called on interested parties, such as businesses, to contribute to the roll-out of such infrastructure.

“Santam’s contribution is a prime example of what public-private partnerships can do for the country, for the economy and for communities. It is a challenge to other role-players in the private sector to also step up and lend a hand.”