Residents of Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) welcomed some good rainfall last night and there are even reports of hail in some places.
According to measurements that were released by Garth Sampson from the PE branch of the South African Weather Service, a total of 45.4mm rain was measured at the Third Avenue Dip, 29.6mm in Chetty and 20mm at the Port Elizabeth Airport.
“The rainfall intensity and amounts were patchy east of Plettenberg Bay and even in the Nelson Mandela Metro, with only 1mm measured in Uitenhage, but 45mm at Third Avenue Dip,” Sampson said.
The big question, Sampson added, is what happened in the Bay’s catchment areas?
“It is difficult to determine what happened in the Kouga Mountains, but in and around Kareedouw between 30mm and 45mm was measured. There were reports of flooding in places in the area, as well of unmelted ice pellets still visible in places. This will add additional run off.”
In the area of the Impofu dam wall, unconfirmed reports were received of 100mm rain.
“Unfortunately, this was at the wall and not in the catchment.
“There was not widespread rain over the entire catchment, i.e. similar amounts measured at Kareedouw/Joubertina and Patensie.
“However, with that 30mm to 45mm in the Kareedouw area and reports of some good falls over a short period near the Impofu dam, some run off would have been caused to the Churchill and Impofu dams.”
Sampson does not believe that much water would have flowed to the Kouga dam as not much rain fell on the Joubertina side (4.4mm).
“My personal conservative estimate would be a few percent to the Churchill and Impofu dam, with very little to Kouga. So in other words, this will give us a bit of breathing space for our water woes, but we are not over the worst yet,” he emphasised.
He urged residents to continue using water sparingly.
Good rain measured elsewhere
Carmen Nel posted a video on the Facebook group Reënval in SA of their garage being flooded after 65mm rain (Nel’s measurements) fell in Humansdorp in an hour’s time.
Frank Nunan said: “We here in St Francis Bay, along with many other places along the coast, had a heck of a storm last night, starting at about 7.45pm. Thunder, lightning, hail and rain for three hours solid. A first for me ever – a full and overflowing rain gauge, meaning 100mm plus.”
Bimpi Olivier also measured 100mm in St Francis Bay “but the gauge was overflowing. Blessings,” she wrote.
Jacobus Ferreira from the farm Palmietvlei in Tsitsikamma measured 87mm rain.
Rain, hail causes damage in Western Cape
In the meantime, many other towns in the Western Cape also received good rainfall yesterday, with heavy rain and hail causing some damage in various parts of the province.
Adri van Vuuren posted photos of huge hail on the Facebook group, Reënval in SA, that fell in Gouritsmond on Wednesday, 5 May. She added that the hail, which caused serious damage, was accompanied by thunder, gale force winds and rain.
In Bonnievale rain of between 50mm and 75mm was measured, Marika Hough said, but some reports indicate that up to 100mm was measured.
According to Netwerk24, two people have died on the R317 in Bonnievale after they were trapped in their vehicle when it rolled.
The main road in Jongensfontein was damaged due to heavy rainfall, wrote Karin Zweers.
