Dam levels update
The Department of Water Affairs (DWA) is warning the public of possible severe flooding in the central, northern and eastern parts of the country which have been receiving persistent rains over the past two weeks. The soils are already very wet and many dams are full.
This means that continued rain is going to cause very rapid increase in river levels and possibly cause flooding. A quick increase in river levels will also be encouraged by releases from major dams when gates are opened in order to ensure the safety of the dams.
This situation is already happening in the Orange-Vaal River System. The Grootdraai and Vaal Dams are full and the Bloemhof is rising quickly. Substantial amounts of water are released. The public living near major river and those crossing low level bridges downstream of the Dams are warned to exercise caution.
Communication is going on between the DWA and Disaster Management Centres to ensure that warnings are disseminated promptly. The public shall continue to be informed if and when more water is going to pass through the storage dams and the expected river flow levels, especially along the Vaal River.
The flow conditions are rapidly changing in various river system in response to the prevailing rainfall conditions.
Flows levels into Vaal Dam from the Vaal leg are very high and continue to show an increasing trend. The capacity of Vaal Dam has increased to approximately 105% with 7 gates opened. Outflow from Vaal Dam is about 857 cumecs and about 900 cumecs flows into Bloemhof Dam.
Water level at Bloemhof Dam is rising rapidly and operators have been advised to gradually release up to 400 cumecs by 16h00. They have been instructed to advise affected Disaster Management Centres to warn the public about the impending increase in water levels.
Weather forecast (10-02-2014)
As the tropical moisture continues to be drawn from the north and the upper trough intensifying in the southwest, showers and thundershowers continue in a band from the north to the central, north-eastern and eastern parts of South Africa as well as the Eastern Cape.
