JOHANNESBURG -- Human-caused climate change worsened the recent torrential rains and floods which devastated parts of southern Africa, killing more than 100 people and displacing over 300 000, researchers said Thursday. Pinto, who co-authored the study, said the climate models used struggled to pinpoint exactly how much worse the recent floods were made by climate change, but that a 40% increase in the intensity of the rains would be impossible to explain without human-caused climate change. The affected regions in southern Africa are no strangers to heavy downpours and flooding, but scientists were alarmed by the magnitude of the recent events. The researchers have also called for the development of climate models in Africa in order to best understand the dynamics and extent of the impact of climate change in the continent's various regions. "All climate models that we have that are freely available are developed outside of Africa.