Staff Reporter
THE Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform (MAWLR) is alerting the public, especially those near the Lower Orange River, of possible high river flows and flooding that might cause prolonged inundation in the coming days.
Jonas Musheko, the spokesperson of the MAWLR, said that the ministry learned that there was high rainfall development in the headwaters of the Vaal and Orange-Senqu River catchments in South Africa and Lesotho.
As a result, this triggered major overflows and releases had to be made from Bloemhof, Gariep and Vanderkloof major dams over the past two weeks.
Musheko explained that the high flows moved down the Lower Orange River, peaking from 2m to 6.26 m with a flow rate of 3100 m3/s at Upington on Saturday, 19 November 2022.
The major upstream dams remain above 100%.
Musheko added that it is expected that the flows in the Lower Orange River will remain high in the coming weeks with more water on its way as a result of further releases from the upstream dams.
Communities, water users, irrigation areas (Noordoewer and settlements in Aussenker), mines, road users, the lowest part of the Orange River in the Oranjemund area, etc are advised to be on high alert for possible high river flows and flooding.
The ministry will continue to monitor the situation on the ground and keep the public informed.
