Warning of imminent flooding in the lower part of the Orange Fish catchment issued
The Hydrological Services under the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform have issued a warning for imminent flooding of the lower part of the Orange Fish catchment, in a daily update flood bulletin released this week.
“It looks like we are going to have a serious flood on the lower Orange River due to recent heavy rains, releases and spillage from the dams in South Africa such as Bloemhof and Vanderkloof and Namibia’s southern dams, such as Naute, Neckartal and Hardap,” the bulletin stated.
A high level of alertness and close monitoring for imminent flooding for the lower part of the Orange Fish catchment is advised, the Hydrological Services added.
According to the services, Namibia’s major dams received significant inflow due to heavy rains and floods in their catchment areas over the past few weeks.
“The total content of the major water supply dams in the southern part of the country is relatively high and currently stands at 91%,” they said, adding that dam operators are advised to upscale flood control management for flood risk mitigation and early warning to communities living downstream.
The total content of the country major water supply dams stood at 82.4% on 24 January, the bulletin stated.
