Pretoria – The Department of Water and Sanitation has warned that major parts of South Africa are likely to experience dry conditions and intense heat during the festive season and beyond as they will have little rainfall.
Addressing a departmental workshop held in Pretoria recently, hydrologist in the department, Dr Dennis Dlamini, said the affected provinces are Gauteng, North West, Mpumalanga, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal.
“Save for Eastern Cape and Western Cape, the rest of the country must brace itself for a below-average rainfall during the period in question,” said Dr Dlamini.
The workshop discussed the department’s state of readiness in the event of floods over the rainy season. Dr Dlamini said that despite the dry prediction, it was important that all stakeholders be on stand-by in case there are flash floods.
“Normally the necessary personnel are mobilised for any eventuality and those who are on holiday are ready to help,” he said.
He said the department has ‘near-real-time’ equipped flow and dam level observation stations to enable early flood warnings and limited flood control using smart infrastructure.
The department has established and operates a network of water level gauging sites at rivers, dams, estuaries and water supply pipelines. – SAnews.gov.za
