[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
dam-l killer dams/LS
NORTHPROV-DAMS
THREE BIG DAMS IN LETABA CATCHMENT AREA OVERFLOWING
JOHANNESBURG 4 February 1999 Sapa
All three big dams in the Letaba catchment area in Northern
Province were overflowing on Thursday and emergency workers in the
region were again on full alert following a storm that wreaked
havoc at the weekend.
Mudslides and floods in the Ga-Sekororo region near Tzaneen killed
at least six people and injured four others on Sunday night.
Eleven homes were destroyed and rescue operations were mounted
throughout the week.
Emergency workers in the area on Thursday were expecting more
trouble.
A rescue organiser said a sniffer dog had indicated there could be
another body under rubble in the Drakensberg. However, a front-end
loader could not move in because heavy rain had started and there
was concern that a cyclone was on the way.
"The dams in the Letaba catchment area are starting to overflow.
The water levels are rising throughout the system, and there could
be floods downstream as far as Phalaborwa," he said.
"We are expecting trouble. The sky has gone black."
The emergency manager said the Tzaneen Dam was 102 percent full,
the Ebenezer Dam 101 percent full and Magoebaskloof Dam 102
percent full.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::