The South African Weather Service (SAWS) confirmed that the recent rains in Nelson Mandela Bay’s catchment areas will give residents a little breathing space, although it will not alleviate the water crisis.
SAWS spokesperson in the Bay, Garth Sampson, said that the main Nelson Mandela Bay catchment in Langkloof received between 35mm at Joubertina and 55mm at Avontuur.
He added that unconfirmed reports were received of as much as 143mm at Krakeelrivierhoek.
“The Nelson Mandela Bay area had a varied rainfall of between 2mm at Uitenhage (Kariega) and 53mm at 3rd Avenue Dip. Although we did not receive the magical 50mm in 24 hours, there were good, continuous falls,” Sampson said. “This will undoubtedly cause run-off towards the main storage dams.”
He added that the official figures would only be known tomorrow but at a conservative estimate, it should be a good few percent.
“After a wonderful week of rainfall, next week looks completely dry in our neck of the woods (NMB and its catchments)” Sampson concluded.
Source: SAWS
