‘The damage is total’ - South African English?

[GoodTaste]

The use of "total" appears to be unique to me. Is it South African English? What do you describe ‘The damage is total’ in British or American English?

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‘The damage is total’: fire rips through historic South African library and plant collection
University of Cape Town risks losing ‘irreplaceable’ historical material on anthropology, ecology and politics.

Source: Nature

 

[tedmc]

The use of "total" appears to be unique to me. Is it South African English? What do you describe ‘The damage is total’ in British or American English?

===============
‘The damage is total’: fire rips through historic South African library and plant collection.
University of Cape Town risks losing ‘irreplaceable’ historical material on anthropology, ecology and politics.

Source: Nature

You have missed the period/full-stop in the quoted text.
It means the damage is complete; nothing is spared.

 

[jutfrank]

This has nothing to do with any variety of English. The person quoted just means that everything was damaged.

 

[Tdol]

I can't see anything against it in BrE.