As drought-stricken Nelson Mandela Bay and the surrounding areas experienced much-needed rainfall at the weekend, the downside saw some houses flooded, roads closed and power knocked out.
While good rainfall figures were recorded in the catchment areas, it is too early to tell how much the Bay’s main supply dams have benefited and whether there will be any impact on water restrictions.
According to the SA Weather Service’s Garth Sampson, good rain fell in the catchment areas, with Joubertina recording 32.2mm, Kareedouw 40mm, Kouga Dam 30mm and Patensie 42.2mm.
Nearly 50mm of rain was recorded at Swartkops.
Municipal spokesperson Mthubanzi Mniki said: “As runoff is still taking place, the true impact of the rains of the last two days will only start showing at our dams by Wednesday.
“The fact that more rain is anticipated for later in the week is encouraging as this is the rain – after the initial [rainfall in] the catchment areas – that will result in direct run-off.
“The municipality continues to ask residents and businesses to use water sparingly as we are far from getting out of the crisis situation.”
The Kouga Dam level is 6.79% at present, Churchill 16.45%, Impofu 27.27% and Groendal 38.92%.
Kouga mayor Horatio Hendricks implemented watershedding in the citrus-rich area in August.
Kouga municipal spokesperson Laura-Leigh Randall said: “The dam level may increase this week as it usually takes a few days for rain from the catchment area to flow in.
“Despite the good rainfall over the past few weeks the drought has not broken, dam levels remain low and water restrictions remain in place.”
Port Elizabeth couple Bernell, 42, and Curtis Hart, 33, said they had a “river” flow into their Pendennis Court, Humewood, home on Sunday just after 5pm.
“We were still saying how grateful we were for the thunderstorm, and then my husband left our bedroom and there was water at the bedroom door,” Bernell said.
“When he opened the front door, it was like a river gushing into our house.
“As devastating as this is, we are OK – we have great family support and were able to spend the night with them.”
Curtis said: “The water was knee-deep at one stage, and got in everywhere – under the beds, into the cupboards.
“Within 20 minutes, we were completely flooded.”
Mzukisi Jim, 43, also reported heavy rain and flooding at his home in Missionvale.
“Every time it rains heavily, this happens. We are under water and all our belongings are wet,” he said.
“Our children end up not going to school and it is frustrating.
“I have reported this several times to our councillor, but nothing happens.”
Mniki said several areas of the metro had been affected by the downpour on Sunday, which also caused some road closures and power outages.
“The 3rd Avenue dip was closed for a few hours and some minor [gravel] roads in areas like Kwazakhele and New Brighton were also impassable for a few hours.
“One lane on the Settlers freeway was also temporarily closed to traffic.” He said power outages were experienced in parts of Motherwell and the city’s western suburbs.
“Flooding was also reported in Wells Estate.
“The municipality’s disaster management team was on standby and monitored the situation throughout the day.”