KOUGA – The heavy rain that struck the Kouga and Kou-Kamma regions from 3 June caused flooding, road damage and soil loss across parts of the area, but the event was significantly less severe than the unprecedented flood of early May.

Residents were urged to prepare after the South African Weather Service upgraded its warning from Level 5 to Level 8 for disruptive rain expected on 3 and 4 June.

The rainfall led to road closures, rockfalls and flooding across the region, prompting advisories from both the Eastern Cape Department of Transport and Kouga Local Municipality.

Rienette Colesky, CEO of the Gamtoos Water Users’ Association, said the downpour was not as intense as the flood-producing storm of 5 to 7 May.

“The downpour wasn’t that intense, and I think that was the saving grace for our valley because it seems like that cutoff low pushed towards the coast,” said Colesky.\

“The rain that was expected inland was actually much less than what fell eventually.”
She stressed that the June event still produced a flood, with the Kouga Dam spilling at just below 693 cumec.

“I believe that we peaked on Thursday (4 June) and Friday (5 June) nights, after which the levels fell,” said Colesky.

Colesky said the latest flooding again caused significant damage to roads and land, with large amounts of soil being washed away.

“There’s still severe damage, especially damage caused to the roads. So much work has been done since the flood in May, and now we need to start all over again,” said Colesky.

While the June flooding caused renewed damage, Colesky said it was not comparable to the flood that occurred from 5 to 7 May, which remains the largest event ever recorded at the dam.

“At least it was not nearly the volume as the first one in early May. The first one was absolutely exceptional,” said Colesky.

“We have not recorded a rainfall and a flooding event as high as the event of the 5th, 6th and 7th of May. That surpasses what we’ve recorded to date.”

Colesky said that during the May disaster, the dam spill reached 3,666 cumec, far above the previous major flood recorded in 1996 at about 2,500 cumec.

She noted that monitoring systems at the Condomo weir were overwhelmed by the floodwaters and that officials could not determine the full volume passing through the Groot River system.

“We couldn’t even read the Condomo weir’s reading; we just know that it went past the measuring plate,” said Colesky.

As previously reported, in mid-May, the Kouga Dam rose from below 33% on 6 May to overflowing in about 18 hours, eventually reaching about 126%.

The flooding submerged orchards, cut roads and forced emergency evacuations across parts of the valley.

According to the Gamtoos Water Users’ Association, as of 9 June, the water level at the Kouga Dam stands at 102.77% and the Loerie Dam at 102.27%.

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