Water Levels Continue to Rise in Vaal & Orange River Systems,

The Department of Water and Sanitation in the Northern Cape have in past weeks issued Flood Alert Warnings to communities along with the Vaal and Orange River systems as water levels continue to increase due to heavy rainfall. Some parts of the Northern Cape have in the past 2 weeks received rainfall of between 50-100mm according to the SA Weather Services, resulting in localised flooding in some areas. Previous dry Islands and riverbeds were also significantly recharged due to the rain.

Communities have been advised to remove livestock and avoid fishing and swimming in the currently flooding water bodies to avoid the risk of drowning, it is also not allowed in accordance with Level 3 COVID19 regulations.

Farming and mining activities along the Vaal and Orange River Systems have also been warned to remove water pumps and equipment to avoid damage to property.

Provincial Disaster Teams, District and Local Authorities are on high alert and have put measures in place to avoid loss of human lives, livestock or damage to property.

According to the latest real-time unverified data, the Orange River at Prieska was yesterday flowing a 790.81 m3/s, Gariep Dam at 98.57% and Vanderkloof Dam at 79.52% storage capacity. The Vaal Dam is at 65.31% full, with the Vaalharts storage weir at 75.75% (belly sluices have been opened to allow high flow from Bloemhof through), Bloemhof Dam 107,3% from last weeks’ 108.8% with a release of 800 m3/s. The Douglas storage weir is 140.74% full.

At Sendelingsdrift, flood water released from Naute Dam in Namibia surpassed the structure limit of 2.8 m (500 m3/s) by approximately 3.0 m last week Wednesday.

Source: Government of South Africa