Experts to investigate Riverlands floods after two severe incidents

The Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation Sello Seitlholo says a departmental expert is investigating the circumstances that led to the Riverlands floods in Malmesbury in the Western Cape.

Two severe floods in the past two weeks have caused chaos in the small rural town.

The floods were initially caused by the overflowing of three retention dams. But the crisis worsened on Saturday when a spillway created to release water pressure from another dam turned into a flash flood.

Seithlolo says they’re investigating what happened.

“There are standard norms that dam owners including the department have to abide by. The report or the investigation report on those dams in that particular area will be able to give us an indication of whether those dams were actually being maintained as per the norms and standards of the department in terms of the dam safety regulations and therein lies the responses and therein also lies where to from there”, says Seithlolo.

[WATCH] Emergency work on the 4th dam in Riverlands.

On Saturday, 17 August 2024, the Department emptied Dam 4 upstream of Riverlands residents by means of a side channel spillway.

The reason for this was to prevent a more catastrophic collapse of the dam wall. The department… pic.twitter.com/AbPtQLvkPq

— Water&SanitationRSA (@DWS_RSA) August 19, 2024

VIDEO | Western Cape | Riverlands floods in Malmesburyhttps://t.co/VeG2ehREJf

— SABC News (@SABCNews) August 19, 2024

WC Floods | Mop-up operations at Riverlands after another flash flood, Mariska Botha reports