WATCH: SA’s replenished water sources roar back to life

Over the past year, South Africa has begun to recover from a five-year drought. The prolonged water scarcity changed the landscape of the country’s most well-known natural wonders.

Many people across the country have taken to social media to share some of the positive effects of the heavy rains experienced over the last week as rivers, streams and waterfalls gushed with new life.

The White Umfolozi river in flood at Vryheid KZN. ????Melanie Sander pic.twitter.com/7YIK8d7Eei

— ReenvalSA (@ReenvalSA) February 1, 2021

South African National Parks (SANParks) also took to Twitter to invite nature lovers to the spectacle of the Augrabies Falls National Park, which was “putting on a show like no other”.

ALSO READ: Eloise continues to bless SA’s dam levels

Augrabies Falls. Picture: Department of Tourism

The flow of water over the falls was anticipated to reach 2000cm³ per second in the next two weeks. Due to the high rainfall across the country, the falls had become a swelling wonder to experience.

While flooding is a natural phenomenon that can bring devastation, especially in more modern settings, flooding functions as an integral part of nature’s own renewal process, especially given how much man has altered naturally occurring systems to fit their own needs.

ALSO READ: Weather service warns of more heavy rainfall in Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga

The South African Weather Service (SAWS) issued a level 4 warning for this week, with heavy rainfall expected over the western bushveld of Limpopo, Gauteng, central and eastern parts of the North West, northeastern parts of Free State, southwestern highveld of Mpumalanga, as well as the western and northwestern parts of KwaZulu-Natal.

Heavy showers are expected leading to flooding of roads and settlements (formal and informal). The weather service also warned of possible damage to roads and bridges.

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