Significant increase in WC's dam storage levels after heavy rain - DWS
It said that as of Monday, its hydrological report showed that the total storage for all the dams it monitored in the province was at 68.71% full.
CAPE TOWN - The Department of Water and Sanitation said that the downpours experienced in the Western Cape over the last few days had resulted in a significant increase in dam storage levels.
It said that as of Monday, its hydrological report showed that the total storage for all the dams it monitored in the province was at 68.71% full.
The City of Cape Town’s six dams have a combined storage of 79.6% – that’s up from 70.5% the previous week.
Rain has been forecast for the province for most of this week.
Kevin Winter from UCT’s Environmental and Geographical Science Department said that the Cape hadn’t seen rainfall like this in years.
"We’re about where we were at in the 1990s, in fact, in some of the catchment records that have come through to me over the last 24 hours and so, I think it's unprecedented in the sense that we haven’t seen this level of rainfall and consecutive days of rainfall for a while now but if you go back to the 1990s, well, they’re there and early 2000s, very similar pattern."
And he said that more rainfall was likely still on the way.
"From what the South African Weather Services are forecasting for above average rainfall right throughout our winter and early spring, so that’s forecast for the whole of the country and it includes parts of the southwestern parts we’re in now as well."
WATCH: Flooding chaos in parts of Western Cape
