More than 400 people were killed in South Africa floods last month. Human-caused climate change is a big reason why, scientists say.

Catastrophic flooding wreaked havoc in South Africa last month, killing at least 448 people, displacing more than 40,000 more and destroying thousands of homes. According to a new analysis published on Friday, the toll of that devastation was made even worse by human-caused climate change.

The torrential rainfall bore down on South Africa in mid-April, causing landslides and massive floods in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces that the nation's president called "a catastrophe of enormous proportions." Many lost their loved ones in the middle of the night while they slept. One man said he lost 10 family members who were asleep in their home when flooding hit. Another woman recalled how her two daughters, age 11 and 17, were swept away as they slept in their shack. 

Nearly 14 inches of rain fell in the region from April 11 to 12, an amount that scientists from the World Weather Attribution global initiative described as "extremely high" for a two-day period.