Niel Terblanche
THE Ugab River started flowing into the Atlantic Ocean after sustained rain over its catchment area over the past few days.
The good rainfall in the north western part of Namibia saw the river flowing past the Brandberg a few days ago.
The continuous rains in over some of the driest parts of Namibia also caused other dormant desert rivers to start flowing strongly for the first time in years.
Earlier this week the Huab and Hoarosib rivers started flowing strongly.
So far, the Ugab is the only river that made its way all the way through the Namib Desert to reach the ocean.
Good rains also caused the rivers that feed into the Hardap Dam to flood again. The dam again received inflow that pushed the water level inside above the 70% safety margin which meant that NamWater officials had to open the floodgates to release excess water. The floodgates were closed again on Friday evening when the level dropped below 70%.
Further south travellers reported that the Kuiseb River was also flooding again. Flow in the Kuiseb River caused much excitement when water reached the outskirts of Walvis Bay about two weeks ago.
Officials of the Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism have issued a notice that the road that crosses the Ugab River where it flows into the Atlantic Ocean is very muddy and that only people with four wheel drive vehicles will be able negotiate the way.
