Western Cape authorities say the recent rain in the Karoo has increased dam levels providing water to the City of Cape Town to 100.5%.
According to the Minister for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Anton Bredell the major thundershower on Thursday, October 21 over the Garden Route and Central Karoo regions of the province has provided much-needed and welcomed relief.
“The Gouritz River catchment area has not seen rain like this for nearly nine years. Oudsthoorn received 41mm and Ladismith 57mm amongst others.
“The rainfall was soft and continuous and caused less damage than we feared although there were some isolated incidents of damage to infrastructure reported. However, we are ecstatic about the good rain,” Bredell said.
Also read: WATCH: footage of Montagu flooding goes viral on social media
“The agriculture sector in that region has been devastated by the drought that has just been never ending. We hope the good rains will go some way to see a recovery and we certainly hope to see more rain,” Bredell adds.
Meanwhile, the South African Weather Service’s latest forecast for this week indicates that there may be some more rain towards the end of the week for the central and eastern parts of the interior of the Western Cape.
26 – 27 October 2021: Strong to gale force easterly to south-easterly winds can be expected offshore between Cape Point and Plettenberg Bay from Tuesday evening and throughout Wednesday. Rough and choppy seas can be expected. pic.twitter.com/HYkuntajfM
— SA Weather Service (@SAWeatherServic) October 25, 2021
Dam levels:
- Voëlvlei dam –98.56% full this week (2020: 96.7%. Last week: 98.4%)
- Bergriver Dam 100.9% full this week (2020: 99.9%. Last week: 100.5%).
- Theewaterskloof dam – 102.1% full this week (2020: 100.5%. Last week: 99.1%)
- Clanwilliam Dam 99.72%. (2020: 98.8%. Last week: 99.36%)
Also read:
Picture: Twitter