ONCE again torrential downpours have soaked the Zululand coast over the last two days, but little rain fell in the major dam catchments.
eShowe recorded 32mm from Saturday morning through to Monday morning, while in the Entumeni area, which is not a major contributor to the Goedertrouw Dam catchment, measured 6.6mm and a to-date total of 46mm for July.
In the northern reaches of the dam, Melmoth only recorded 5.3mm over the last two days.
These areas have received 46.7mm and 25.4mm respectively since the beginning of the month.
But in Empangeni more than 108mm was measured over the two-day period with 87.1mm falling in the 24 hours up to Tuesday morning, with the total for July to date at 159.1mm.
Coastal rain
But the most rain fell along the coast, with Port Durnford receiving 138mm. Mtunzini more than 100mm just on Monday and Gingindlovu 67.6mm.
Port Durnford has recorded a total rainfall of 235mm since the beginning of the month. Heatonville received 80.7mm.
In the northern regions of the province, Pongola had no rain, Makathini measured only 0.1mm, Mkuze 0.5 and St Lucia 37.4mm.
The Dukuduku Forestry area measured 65mm and in KwaMbonambi 104.9mm fell in 48 hours, of which 79.5 fell in the 24 hours from Monday morning (8am) until Tuesday morning (8am).
Dam levels
Goedertrouw Dam level has dropped a further percent to 18.8% as at 25 July.
The largest dam in the region, the Pongolapoort Dam in Jozini is standing at 40.7%, compared to 41% last week.
The other two major dams, Hluhluwe and Klipfontein, are at 14.5% and 14.1% of their full capacity, having dropped 0.2% and 0.5% respectively.
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