Pretoria - The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) says while it continues to monitor the levels in all the rivers and dams in the country very closely, with higher emphasis on the areas more prone to flooding, there is no immediate threat of flooding at the moment.
Previous experience has helped sharpen the department’s vigilance during the period of high rainfall, which could lead to flooding.
The major river system which is vulnerable to flooding is the Orange - Vaal River system. “This system cuts across four provinces, namely Gauteng, Free State, North West and Northern Cape. The major storage dams in the Vaal River are Grootdraai, Bloemhof and Vaal dams,” the department said.
Downstream of Vaal Dam there is Barrage in the Vereening area, which is managed by Rand Water. The storage dams on the Orange River are Gariep and Vanderkloof dams.
“The three dams in the Vaal River have gates which are controlled. At this stage the dam level percentages are Grootdraai at 94, Vaal at 83 and Bloemhof at 79. The storage dam level percentages on the Orange River are Gariep at 86 and Vanderkloof at 95,” the department said.
The department said regions that are affected by isolated heavy rains for the past two days and thus vulnerable to localised floods are Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
It added that in Gauteng, dams on the tributaries of the Vaal and Crocodile rivers are mainly not near spilling, except for the Klerkskraal, Roodekopjes and Groot Marico dams, which are near 100% full.
“If these dams spill, there will not be an immediate threat. This will depend on the duration of the spill over the dam. Most of these rivers are not near bursting their banks,” the department said.
“There is, however , isolated flooding like the Hennops River in Centurion, due to high rainfall/flash flood in the city. The river accumulates more water for short durations which can last for three to six hours,” it added.
There are no small local dams spilling at the moment in Limpopo and Mpumalanga, and the flows in the Olifants and Limpopo rivers are being monitored continually.
The two rivers discharge into Mozambique, and a monitoring team continues to observe the situation on a regular basis.
“Should there be any strange readings, technicians will be sent out to the field to verify the information and communicate with the Mozambican authorities accordingly. These two rivers – the Limpopo and Olifants - are also vulnerable to flooding, thus the keen eye trained on their levels,” the department added.
It is gathering information for the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Cape provinces. - SAnews.gov.za
