NATIONAL NEWS - Residents in Deneysville in the Free State are battling rising water levels, despite government’s assurances that the worst of the Vaal Dam flooding is over.
The Witness reports that a warning was issued to those downstream to evacuate, and with weather services forecasting drier conditions ahead for Gauteng, there are no plans to open more than the five floodgates that are already open, Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina says.
But, with the total discharge from the dam at about 800 000 litres per second, she warns people downstream to prepare to evacuate their properties.
The Vaal Dam was at 114% capacity yesterday morning. The floodgate discharge had already flooded properties downstream on the riverbank and those on the edge of the dam itself.
Isabelle van der Merwe from the Deneysville Water Sports Club, which is on the shores of the dam, says the first row of caravans are completely flooded.
“The owners of the caravans on the left were told to come evacuate their belongings because it will be too late by tomorrow.”
Van der Merwe says the water has risen to knee height in the first row of caravans.
Majodina says the department is not opening any more sluice gates for now.
“So far, there is no need to open another sluice gate, but if it rains during the evening and there’s more water coming in, we will need to assess the situation and release water quickly.
“We have engineers monitoring the dam 24/7 to ensure we release water based on facts and have time to warn communities downstream,” she says.
Majodina says while some communities feel the department should have opened the gates when the dam was at 90% full, the department’s responsibility was to store water.
“We release water when we are above the capacity that we can store. We do not want water to overflow and release itself. That’s dangerous. We are managing the water,” she says.
Majodina says people should move from the flood line.
“We are still encouraging those upstream who have built their properties on flood lines and on dam banks to evacuate quickly because soon it will be flooded. We cannot be held responsible for their properties if they are damaged because they are not supposed to be there,” she says.
Department spokesperson Wisane Mavasa says the dam outflow remains at 800 cubic metres per second, with the current inflows between 1 000 and 1 100 cubic metres per second, or one million to 1.1 million litres per second.
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