This is the finding of a study by the World Weather Attribution initiative.

The international panel assessed whether and to what extent human-caused climate change altered the likelihood and intensity of the extreme rainfall in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape over the two days last month. 

In Durban, more than 300 millimetres of rain was recorded on 11 April at Virginia.

At least 435 people have died as a result of the floods, while more than 40 are still missing. 

READ: Search and rescue crews who assisted in KZN to return home

Over 40 000 people have been displaced and severe damage has been caused to some critical infrastructure.

UCT climate scientist Izidine Pinto was part of the study and says the findings show the intensity of such an event has increased between 4 and 8 percent.

"These results are also consistent with scientific understanding of how climate change influences heavy rainfall in many parts of the world and according to the last IPCC report, they found that in this particular part in the world, we are going to experience more extreme weather events in the future as results of increases of global warming levels."