Heavy rain brings some hope for dam levels
NELSON Mandela Bay supply dam levels could see a slight increase as heavy rain brought relief to some of the worst-affected catchment areas in the drought-stricken Eastern Cape and Garden Route.
More than 40mm of rain was recorded in the Kareedouw area, which falls within the catchment of the Bay’s lowest supply dam, the Churchill Dam.
It is still unclear how much water it has received as run-off from across the catchment area still needs to make its way to the dam.
But according to the South African Weather Service, rainfall in the region of 50mm should make a noticeable difference in dam levels.
Weather SA Port Elizabeth spokesman Garth Sampson said the 42mm measured at Kareedouw looked promising, as the Churchill Dam had been at only 7.6% capacity when it was last measured on Monday.
“If a catchment area receives about 50mm of rain, we should see a significant impact on the dam levels in that region,” he said.
“It won’t mean the end of the drought or water restrictions, but should at least bring some relief,”
The Bay’s other catchment areas – Uitenhage and Patensie – had 16mm and 18mm, respectively.
Other significant rainfall figures across the province and Garden Route include Port Alfred (51mm), Fort Beaufort (46mm), Plettenberg Bay (45mm), Mossel Bay (44mm) and George (34mm).
Rainfall in Nelson Mandela Bay was between 11mm in Lovemore Heights and 36mm in St Albans.
Significant downpours along the Baakens Valley led to the closure of the Third Avenue dip in Newton Park on Wednesday night, and municipal spokesman Kupido Baron said it would remain closed until 8am today.
“Due to the saturated soil and intermittent rain predicted for the rest of the day and night [yesterday] a decision will be made [today] whether it is safe to open the booms at Third Avenue.”
He said emergency services remained on high alert.
A parks department team was also on standby to deal with any fallen trees due to the drenched soil and possible wind.
In Newton Park, motorbike re-
pair shop Scooter Clinic in Sixth Avenue was underwater for the second time in two weeks, and frustrated owner Deon Richardson could only laugh.
“We just sorted out the swimming pool, costing us about R10 000 for repairs and a new pump,” he said.
“We just managed to get our workshop up and running again, and now it’s flooded again.”
He said the flooding was caused by a collapsed stormwater drain nearby, meaning rainwater did not drain from the road effectively.
“We had municipal workers out here to look at the problem, but I guess we will have to wait for the next rainstorm to see if they fixed the problem or not.
“In the meantime, I just hope to get my shop up and running again, because every time I need to repair flood damage it takes time and money out of my business.”
While sunny weather and temperatures in the low to mid-20s are expected for most of the province at the weekend, preliminary forecasts from Weather SA show another weather system moving towards the Eastern Cape, possibly bringing more rain, from Tuesday onwards.
In high-lying parts of the province, snow caused disruptions and led to the closure of several mountain passes, including the Wapadsberg Pass between Cradock and Lootsberg, the Lootsberg Pass between Middelburg and Graaff-Reinet, and the Barkly Pass between Elliot and Barkly East.
While not closed, the weather services also said the following roads were deemed hazardous due to snow:
The R56 between Molteno and Dordrecht;
The R67 near Seymour; ý The N6 between Queenstown and Jamestown;
ý The Kraairivier Pass between Barkly East and Elliot; and
ý The R58 between Barkly East and Lady Grey.
The Mountain Shadow Hotel near Barkly East had guests coming and going over the last two days.
While some were trying to avoid being snowed in, others wanted to get to the hotel before the roads were closed to experience fresh snow.
“Guests left as soon as the first flakes started dropping, but when we started posting pictures of the snow on social media we were inundated with requests for accommodation,” employee Tina Botha said.
This put them in a difficult position as they did not want to encourage people to drive on the dangerous roads, but knew many people would come anyway to experience the “winter wonderland”.
Closer to the Lesotho border, the BezRes Guesthouse near Rhodes was also covered in snow.
Owner Jan Bezuidenhout said the blizzard had caused no damage and he welcomed the possibility of more snow.
“The snow is melting now, bringing some much-needed moisture to our very dry region,” he said.