WATCH: Residents urged to evacuate after fifth sluice gate opened at Vaal Dam

As rainfall continues to fall across the country, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has now opened a fifth sluice gate at the Vaal Dam, urging residents to evacuate low-lying areas and stay out of danger.

The water level of the Vaal Dam has increased over the last few days, according to officials monitoring the water resource that supplies Gauteng.

Vaal capacity

Heavy rains over the last few days have filled the Vaal Dam beyond its 100% capacity.

DWS spokesperson Wisane Mavasa said the sluice gate was opened on Sunday morning.

Mavasa said the current water storage levels at the dam are at about 109% full.

“We have this morning, had to open the fifth sluice gate after we had opened the fourth one yesterday just about 24 hours ago. This is due to the rapid rise of inflows coming through from the upstream into the Vaal dam, resulting in the dam, you know, picking up from 107.8% to the 109% that is sitting at right now.

“This water, as it’s flowing, will be reaching the Barrage [dam] at around six hours, meaning that the communities that are in the low-lying areas around the Barrage need to evacuate because they may be situated in flood lines or in about 100 meters from the river, they will end up being flooded if they are not evacuating within the timelines that we are providing,” Mavasa said.

Watch Wisane Mavasa sharing an update about level at the Vaal Dam and another sluice gate being opened

ALSO READ: Fourth sluice gate opened at Vaal Dam due to increased inflows

Warning

Mavasa added that the water is also flowing down to the Bloemhof Dam, which is also increasing, sitting at around 106% full.

“We are trying our level best to try and keep it within the 100%; however, because water is fluid, is flowing, and it’s coming through at a very rapid rate. We are also increasing the flows at the Bloemhof Dam at about one 1.4 cubic meters per second incrementally up until 16 hours this afternoon.”

Mavasa said several communities will be affected in the rise of the dam levels.

“So communities around Parys, those in the low-lying areas around the river banks, as well as downstream, as well as the lower Vaal catchment, will also be affected by this water, so they need to start evacuating.

“But farmers need to remove their equipment, the pump stations that they put next to the rivers, and any movable infrastructure that they have so that they don’t get damaged. But also to make sure that we safeguard lives downstream,” Mavasa said.

Evacuation

Mavasa said the department may slow down the opening of gates in the next few days and will assess rain and weather predictions before deciding on the way forward.

She said due to increased water releases by the five sluice gates, there might be a possible overflowing
at the riverbanks downstream, and this will affect infrastructure built in lower-lying areas within
the 100-year floodline or 100 meters.

“But because its water and rains, it’s a prediction which we cannot give a guarantee to. So, what we can encourage is, is that everyone who will be affected by these flows needs to evacuate and make sure that they stay out of danger.

“As a department, we want to ensure that at the end of this rainy season, we have our infrastructures still intact, but at the same time, we have a full capacity of this reservoir at the end of this season,” Mavasa said.

ALSO READ: Vaal Dam sees major spike in 24 hours: Here’s how much it has gone up in the last week